Gov’t urged to take China to WTO over games

The government is facing growing calls to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over China’s refusal to permit Korean game companies to sell their products there, according to industry officials and politicians.

Rep. Cho Kyoung-tae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party urged Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo to pursue more active measures to resolve the matter that has lasted for more than two years, resulting in worsening profits for the nation’s game industry.

“The Chinese government resumed issuing service permits for foreign titles in March this year, but no Korean games were included in the list,” the four-term lawmaker said during the National Assembly’s audit of government agencies, Monday. “This is obvious discrimination against Korean games. The culture ministry needs to take the issue to the WTO.”

In response, Minister Park said, “The ministry will give overall consideration to exports and imports of the cultural industry, including the issue involving China’s service permits.”

He noted he already brought up the issue during a trilateral meeting between culture ministers of Korea, China and Japan, Aug. 30. The demand for making a complaint to the WTO comes as exports of Korean games to China, the world’s largest game market, have been blocked since March 2017 when the Chinese government suspended issuing service permits as part of the country’s protest of Korea’s deployment of a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

According to the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), 60.5 percent of overseas sales of Korean game companies was generated from exports to China in 2017, which means export barriers in that country have had a huge impact on the firms’ profits.

An official from a major game company here said China’s export barriers are no longer an issue for private companies, saying the matter should be resolved at the government level.

“The government’s indifference has worsened the situation, with some companies’ operating profits having halved over the past year,” the official said. “We hope the government will come forward to cope with the issue.” During the audit session on Oct. 17, Rep. Cho said an increasing number of Chinese game companies have exported their games to the Korean game market without a hitch and made considerable profits here, while Koreans have had a rough time with difficulties in the Chinese market.

“The government needs to put this matter right,” he said. “In accordance with the principle of reciprocity, Korea needs to place restrictions on Chinese games that make inroads into the Korean market.”

The lawmaker stressed losses of the nation’s game industry resulting from China’s export barriers have been estimated at about more than 2 trillion won ($1.7 billion).