Ministry Eased Video Gambling Rules

It was confirmed yesterday that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism ignored a district court’s legal advice and turned over the authority to designate gift certificate issuers to the Korea Game Development and Promotion Institute (KGDI).

It also reportedly requested the Korea Media Rating Board to ease regulations so that gift certificates could be applied to even G-rated game machines.

Consequently, suspicions are emerging about why the ministry granted the KGDI the right to designate gift certificate issuers and let the game machines swell in number. The report on the legality of monopolistic gift certificate issuance by particular operators, obtained by this paper from opposition Grand National Party lawmaker Park Chan-sook, a member of the National Assembly Culture and Tourism Committee, pointed out that the act of designating operators to issue gift certificates directly affects the rights and duties of the public, and that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism should be careful about giving such authority to its own arm, KGDI, which is unprecedented.

The document also stated that the KGDI should limit its role to the current rating work in order to avoid controversy.

Changwon District Court also ruled that government order to suspend operation because of the use of undesignated certificates is unfair in a suit against the mayor of Masan city brought upon by an adult arcade game owner in Masan last month. The court said that the Culture Ministry has no power to grant authority to designate certificate issuers to the KGDI.

However, different from what was described in the report, Culture Minister Kim Myung-gon said that the ministry went through enough legal consultations, attending the meeting of Culture and Tourism Committee in the National Assembly on August 21.