On August 5, the 2022 China-ROK Copyright Seminar, themed “New Challenges to Copyright in Digital Environment”, took place simultaneously in Beijing and Seoul in hybrid form. The seminar was co-organized by the National Copyright Administration of China (NCAC) and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Republic of Korea (MCST), with the support of the Copyright Protection Center of China and the Korean Copyright Commission. Representatives from copyright authorities, organizations and industries from China and ROK, as well as from relevant international copyright associations attended the seminar.

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of China-ROK diplomatic ties, as well as the China-ROK Cultural Exchange Year. The inclusion of this seminar into programs of the Cultural Exchange Year demonstrates the important role of copyright in promoting the political mutual trust, people-to-people friendship and  stable and far-reaching relations between the two countries.

Mr. Wang Zhicheng, Director General of Copyright Department of NCAC, started by reviewing China-ROK copyright exchanges in recent years. 16 copyright seminars and inter-governmental consultations have been organized in turn by NCAC and MCST, within the framework of the bilateral agreement at ministerial level signed in 2006 and the MoU at departmental level signed in 2019 between the two institutions. All these events have promoted the wide exchanges and cooperation between the copyright authorities and industries of the two countries. The hybrid seminar, focused on copyright protection and industry development in digital environment as well as the achievements and attractiveness of technology and copyright innovation, is of great significance in the context of the repeated COVID-19 outbreaks and the complex and grim international situation.

Mr. Kang Seok-won, Director of Copyright Bureau of MCST, said that face-to-face communication becomes difficult during the COVID-19 pandemic, but more copyrighted works are created, circulated consumed. It is therefore necessary to discuss the challenges confronting copyright in digital environment. The seminar is even more significant in deepening China-ROK friendship since this year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations.

In the seminar, Mr. Sun Baolin, Director General of China Copyright Protection Center, Mr. Choi Byung-koo, Chairman of the Korean Copyright Commission, Ms. Liu Xiaochun, Executive Director of Internet Rule of Law Research Center of the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Ms. Jia Lei, Head of Legal Sharing Center of China Mobile MIGU, Ms. Chen Meng, Senior Researcher of Tencent Research Institute, as well as Mr. Lee Tie-nam, Professor of Law Institute of Chungnam University and Ms. Kim Hyun-sook, Director of Policy and Legal Research Institute of the Music Content Association of Korea, gave speeches on the situation and trends of online copyright industry in both countries and exchanged views on respective copyright practices.

China-ROK Inter-governmental Copyright Consultation was held alongside with the seminar. During the consultation, both sides updated the latest development of copyright legislation, enforcement and industry development at the government level and reached much consensus on future copyright cooperation.