The adult game device market is an estimated W1 trillion in size, and transparency is being hurt by an approval process that is full of murky activity. The committee responsible for review at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism has been repeatedly ignoring the regulations to approve games that are mostly about gambling and it has been applying the rules arbitrarily, differently for each manufacturing company. Some of the people on the committee got to be on it after lying about their experience and education and one committee member used to be an executive at a company that makes the devices, so it is only natural that there are suspicions about collusion between the approval committee and the industry.
If as has been revealed so far the committee has been winning companies hundreds of billions of Won by approving devices that are more about gambling than used to be the case, then the corruption has been quite skillful. One industry insider says the committee's decision to use a loophole in the regulations to approve one game that allows for tens of billions in prizes "makes you wonder what value there is in having the committee," and that tells you something of how serious the situation is. You once believed the corruption that used to lurk near government offices has been disappearing with the tide of the times, so it is sad to see a revival in the face of a market worth W1 trillion.
The failure of the responsible government department to engage in adequate management and oversight and in doing so allow the situation to come to this must be noted. It is a massive market and the committee always had the potential to be moved by massive interests on every decision, so there should have been strict oversight on the approval process and in the selection of committee members, to see whether there is transparency and impartiality. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism needs to engage in a full-scale inquiry. They say that every company in the industry is engaging in intense illegal lobbying battles to get their products approved, so the prosecution must commence on an investigation immediately to stop the cycle of corruption.
The Hankyoreh, 6 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Investigate Game Industry Corruption |
