President Heo Chang-min had championed gender equality since his candidacy (as had all candidates), and after taking office, he significantly empowered the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF).
He appointed Shin Jeon-mi, a senior Assemblywoman from the New Politics Party, as Minister and increased the ministry's budget by 40% compared to the previous year.
Compared to ministries like Foreign Affairs, Unification, and Land, Infrastructure and Transport, MOGEF is small and possesses limited administrative authority.
The Ministry of Strategy and Finance oversees the National Tax Service and Korea Customs Service; the Ministry of the Interior and Safety oversees the National Police Agency and National Fire Agency; the Ministry of Justice oversees the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. However, MOGEF has no such affiliated agencies under its direct control.
Furthermore, its areas of responsibility largely overlap with other ministries. For instance, youth protection overlaps with the Ministry of Education, cultural industry regulation with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), and issues like sex crimes and prostitution with the Police or Prosecutors' Office.
However, after Assemblywoman Shin Jeon-mi became Minister, backed by government and public support, MOGEF gradually expanded its sphere of activity. Inevitably, this led to jurisdictional conflicts with other ministries.
For the government to announce policies, it must hold internal meetings to coordinate the interests of various ministries. Yet, MOGEF frequently seemed to operate independently, out of sync with the others.
A prime example was the issue of legalizing pornography.
Despite it being a presidential directive and the ruling party officially supporting it, MOGEF alone, alongside the opposition Free Korea Party, voiced dissent.
As this lack of coordination repeatedly surfaced, palpable consternation grew within the ruling camp. Some ministers and assembly members harbored dissatisfaction, but Minister Shin enjoyed overwhelming support from women's groups and civic organizations. Consequently, even those with complaints hesitated to voice them openly.
Minister Shin Jeon-mi supported Assemblywoman Lee Jung-hye's bill, arguing that all pornography sites should be blocked.
"Pornography sexually commodifies women, sets back women's rights, undermines gender equality, and negatively impacts adolescents. The internet is flooded with illegal spycam videos and revenge porn, and countless victims are suffering right now. Therefore, blocking websites that indiscriminately distribute obscene materials is a necessary measure the government must take to protect its citizens. There's a misunderstanding among some that this means banning all adult content, which is untrue. Legitimate adult materials that pass review can be viewed freely."
- Hey! So what exactly is this 'legitimate adult material' MOGEF is talking about?
- Officially released erotic films. Like Madame Aema.
- Who even watches that stuff these days?
- I don't care if they execute the bastards who spread spycam and revenge porn, just please allow regular porn!
- It's useless. As long as Minister Shin is there, there's no hope.
- Faceit access is blocked. What's going on?
- Use SNI encryption or bypass with a VPN. No matter how much the government censors the internet, there are always ways.
- I know that. It's just annoying that we have to go to such lengths.
- South Korea is probably the only country in the world where adults can't legally watch adult content.
- I just want to emigrate.
Despite the surge in public opinion demanding the legalization of pornography, Minister Shin Jeon-mi refused to yield.
The recent game regulation bill followed a similar pattern. While the MCST advocated for broad discussions involving the game industry and civic groups, including considerations about the Shutdown System, MOGEF unilaterally insisted on imposing regulations.
Once MOGEF gained regulatory authority, it began wielding it like an all-powerful sword across the entire cultural industry.
Among these, the primary target was naturally the game industry.
Applying similar regulations to music or film would likely draw criticism for dampening the successful Hallyu (Korean Wave).
Indeed, MOGEF had previously faced significant public backlash for designating songs merely containing lyrics about alcohol and tobacco as harmful to youth, and for distributing "Gender Equality Broadcasting Production Guidelines" suggesting regulations on female idol appearances due to perceived uniformity in their looks.
However, games were perceived as a safer target. Public perception of gaming lagged behind that of music and film, and the industry itself had largely neglected self-regulation and efforts to improve its social image, being preoccupied with profits.
There was less resistance, yet cracking down on games garnered votes from parents. (Reflecting parental sentiment: "Isn't the reason my child isn't studying all because of games?")
Minister Shin Jeon-mi had spearheaded game regulation since her days as an assemblywoman. Now, as Minister of MOGEF, she felt unstoppable. Her conviction was that the government must strictly control harmful media—be it pornography or games—to protect youth and women.
"We will meticulously review games for sexual content, violence, and any elements that undermine gender equality or are discriminatory towards women. We will issue corrective recommendations for games found lacking, and if they fail to comply, we will consider measures such as distribution bans and imposing fines."
Unlike the pornography issue, significant money was involved here. MOGEF needed a larger budget to fully carry out its expanded role, and game companies seemed the easiest targets from which to levy funds.
Therefore, the passage of the 'Bill on Prevention of and Support for Healing from Internet Game Addiction' was deemed imperative.
Minister Shin Jeon-mi joined forces with lawmakers from the Free Korea Party to push for the bill's passage, while simultaneously launching a public campaign to highlight the dangers of game addiction.
***
Taek-gyu, who usually just played games after clocking in at work, was busy for the first time in a while.
First, the game industry decided to propose a self-regulation plan, and to this end, they agreed to form an association of game companies.
Since regulation requires enforceability, the association needed significant authority. And for this, major developers had to make concessions.
A draft of the self-regulation plan already existed. However, it hadn't been agreed upon due to resistance from major game companies, simply because having no regulations at all was more profitable.
The problem of gambling-like elements in domestic games was severe. More than a few games had failed because, instead of focusing on making the game enjoyable, they solely induced excessive real-money spending.
The most problematic among these were the probability-based items, commonly known as 'random boxes' or loot boxes. Encouraging players to keep purchasing until they obtain the desired item was an issue, as were the abysmally low probabilities, sometimes compared to lottery odds. In some cases, game operators were even caught manipulating these probabilities.
As a result, the public perception of domestic games deteriorated, and gamers began turning to foreign titles, sometimes even chanting, "Korean games, just die!"
Taek-gyu separately gathered the heads of the top five domestic game companies, including LC Soft, NA Games, and Letmarble.
"Considering the content of the bill and MOGEF's actions, its passage will inevitably deal a huge blow to the entire game industry. It could even be devastating. Shouldn't the industry proactively create a self-regulation plan before that happens?"
Rather than leveraging his position as Vice President of OTK Company to pressure them, Taek-gyu earnestly persuaded them.
"You've seen self-driving electric cars on the roads, right? Previously successful auto giants are now facing collapse one after another. I assure you, a similar seismic shift will occur in the game industry. This isn't the time to be content scraping pocket money from kids with random boxes. You need to prepare for the much larger market that will open up in the future."
After half a day of persuasion, the CEOs of the five major game companies finally agreed to delegate authority to the association and accept the self-regulation plan.
After the CEOs left, Taek-gyu said.
"Even if the bill currently proposed in the National Assembly isn't passed, as long as MOGEF is in charge of game regulation, similar issues will keep recurring."
I nodded.
"That's likely."
"There's only one fundamental solution to this problem."
"What is it?"
To my question, Taek-gyu pushed up his glasses and said.
"MOGEF needs to take its hands off cultural industry regulation and transfer it to MCST. MOGEF and the cultural industry have little connection in the first place, right?"
Whether MOGEF spends 10 billion out of the 12 billion won budgeted for supporting women in prostitution on operational costs, uses 10 million won for a year-end party, or pours funds into developing a new font for adolescents... that's not our concern.
It's not like other ministries don't have similar instances of budget waste.
The real issue is the regulation of the cultural industry.
The power to regulate something demonstrates the authority that ministry holds. This is why regulations, once established, are rarely abolished easily.
"Do you think MOGEF will give up that power?"
"We have to make them."
In fact, discussions about consolidating policy work for the cultural industry, including games, under MCST have been around for a long time.
"Unlike MOGEF, MCST has a better understanding of subcultures. Plus, some key members of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee come from the game industry."
I recalled something I saw in the materials Yuri brought me.
"But it's not like MCST doesn't regulate either, right? Didn't they cause an uproar recently by regulating indie games?"
After the Sea Story incident, which plunged the nation into gambling addiction (though some insist on calling it game addiction), a law was enacted requiring all games to undergo pre-screening. This law was applied to commercial games, but somehow, MCST suddenly declared that even non-profit games not intended for sale must undergo pre-screening, threatening criminal charges for sharing games without it. Sites that received the official notice shut down their forums, and budding developers working on things like Flash games lost the opportunity to showcase their creations. One might think they could just get the pre-screening, but doing so requires hundreds of thousands of won and a significant amount of time. MCST's stance was that they were merely applying the existing law, but it was akin to the Food and Drug Administration raiding a gathering where people were sharing homemade lunches. The situation was so absurd, and because it threatened to uproot the entire game development ecosystem, there was fierce backlash. MCST eventually backed down, suspending enforcement for non-profit games and promising to review the law.
"Still, MCST is better than MOGEF. The fact that they backed down due to public backlash shows they can be reasoned with. Fundamentally, their perspectives on games differ. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism regulates games viewing them as 'culture,' whereas the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family views them as 'media harmful to youth'."
I nodded.
If we have to take a beating anyway, it's better from someone we can talk to.
***
The National Assembly convened following a bipartisan agreement. They agreed to prioritize processing overdue bills, including the 'Bill on Prevention of and Support for Healing from Internet Game Addiction.'
There wasn't much time left.
The CEOs of the five major game companies met sequentially with Minister Kim Guk-cheon of the MCST and key members of the Culture, Sports, and Tourism Committee, presenting the industry's self-regulation plan.
OTK Company stepped forward to announce the industry's stance:
"OTK Games completely rejects the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's request for cooperation on self-regulation and clearly states its opposition to unfair game regulations. Having agreed with over 50 domestic game companies to establish an association and develop autonomous regulatory measures, we will collectively respond to various regulatory bills."
As soon as the announcement was made, the media flooded with articles.
[(Breaking) OTK Company Opposes MOGEF Game Regulations]
[Expansion of Shutdown System Halted?]
[Game Industry Supports OTK Company's Announcement!]
[Domestic Game Companies Agree to Create Self-Regulation Plan]
[Public Opinion Divided on Game Regulation]
[Experts: Game Addiction is a Serious Illness...]
[Parent Groups, Religious Organizations: Strengthen Game Regulation...]
[OTK Company Declares All-Out War Against MOGEF!]
Game sites like Ruluweb went into an uproar.
- Why single out games? Isn't studying 12 hours a day at school, evening self-study, and private academies study addiction? Then they should regulate studying too!
- Heh heh, staying up all night playing games is bad, but studying or going out to play is okay.
- Just declare games illegal and arrest everyone who makes them or plays them.
- LOL, if the bill passes, they'll probably forcibly drag game addicts to addiction treatment centers like they're being taken to a mental hospital.
- Line up here, all you guys who'll be dragged away.
- Korean game companies are definitely a problem. How are loot boxes different from pachinko?
- Right. Games these days are just luck-based crap games.
- Our country's game companies need to go bankrupt before they come to their senses.
- It's true that gambling elements and addiction need regulation, but not like this.
***
The Blue House (Presidential Office) and the ruling party were taken aback. Listing Kang Jin-hu's past misdeeds against the political world would fill several books. Therefore, any politician with decency and common sense usually tried hard to avoid getting entangled with Kang Jin-hu. But now, this whole situation had erupted because of an official notice sent by MOGEF!
As the situation showed signs of escalating, the government decided to finalize its position after reaching a conclusion in a meeting of related ministers and then make an announcement.
However, even before the meeting convened, Minister Shin Jeon-mi preemptively stood before the press. She spoke with an angry voice:
"Game addiction is a serious illness, and regulation is absolutely necessary. Recently, increasingly addictive games with strong gambling-like elements are emerging, and statistics show that 20% of adolescents suffer from excessive immersion. Excessive gaming hinders academic pursuits, leading to lower grades and increased aggression. As game addiction can even alter brain structure, making it harder to overcome, the World Health Organization (WHO) is poised to classify gaming disorder as a serious condition. Yet, I cannot suppress my anger and concern that OTK Company, a self-proclaimed global enterprise, is abandoning its social responsibility to protect adolescents, undermining gender equality, and persisting in misogynistic practices. Under no circumstances will I back down from regulating games and treating game addiction. I implore the citizens to support the passage of this bill."