President Lee links past regulations classifying games as addictive to South Korea’s loss of global leadership, urges policy shift
President Lee Jae-myung visited a game industry site on the 15th and stated, “The game industry is an important part of the cultural industry,” adding, “Game exports are the real, true exports.” Regarding the contentious issue of game over-immersion, he said, “If there’s no immersion, would it be a game?” and emphasized, “It is not an addictive substance.” He specifically referenced the Park Geun-hye administration’s regulation of games as one of the “four major addictions” and remarked, “It is time to change the policy direction and turn this into an opportunity.”
The president held a K-game on-site meeting at PUBG Seongsu, located in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, on the same day. He said, “The previous government’s fundamental mindset classified games alongside drugs as one of the four major addictions, leading to suppressive policies rather than support. As a result, we were overtaken by China despite having been ahead.” He added, “As the mayor of Seongnam, I paid special attention to this sector. In the long term, this is an early form of the cultural industry, but it faced significant difficulties due to misaligned government policies.”
President Lee acknowledged, “There are many who argue that games should be regulated due to over-immersion concerns, and some citizens are worried.” He continued, “In the past, reading comic books was seen as a behavior of students avoiding studies, but now animation and webtoons have become major industries.” He also stated that suppressing games due to addiction concerns does not resolve the issue, adding, “We must address side effects while creating opportunities.”
According to Kang Yu-jung, a presidential office spokesperson, the meeting also discussed the game industry’s request for flexible labor hour operations. President Lee responded, “There are two sides,” and said, “Workers should not be treated as disposable. Both perspectives must be reflected.” He also mentioned exploring compromises within the current labor system, which allows “special extended work” in six-month or three-month increments, according to Kang.
Before the meeting, President Lee examined game merchandise at the venue and personally experienced KRAFTON’s life simulation game ‘Enjoy.’ He laughed while viewing an AI model depicting his youth, saying, “It’s overly flattering.” Attendees included game company representatives such as Kim Jung-wook of Nexon, Kim Chang-han of KRAFTON, Bang Joon-hyuk of Netmarble, Kim Taek-jin of NCSoft, and Sung Joon-ho of Smilegate.
