Korean music video to get age ratings

For whom the ratings system exists?

The logo of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in Korea. [MCST]

Starting this Saturday, Korean music videos posted online should put a tag indicating which age the video is suited for.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) announced in press release last Wednesday that music videos must receive age ratings from authorities before being streamed online beginning on August 18, when a related law revision is set to be effective.

Till now, the officials have allowed TV networks’ own censorship of music videos, only giving age ratings for music videos that are for sale.

However, as highly sexual or violent contents have been delivered to the youth without any barriers, the MCST revised laws requiring that all music videos streamed online should receive an age rating to protect young viewers.

As soon as the announcement was made, it has sparked strong opposition from music business operators. Some related officials in entertainment industries told the magazine their inside stories in phone interviews on Monday.

A rep from one of Korean's top major talent agency told the magazine, “It does not reflect the reality of music production at all. They also did not reveal the exact ratings standards. Even though they have held a few public hearings, there will be considerable amount of obstacles to make this system effective.”

“There will be no problem if there are producers who planned everything a few months before the release of new songs. But there is no producer like that. The problem is that, they only care about the video's single scene itself. It is the context of the video which needs to be concerned,” a music producer criticized sharply in the phone interview.

Also, musicians have risen up in major opposition by posting unfavorable comments about the revised law.

Yoon Jong-shin, a ballad singer and songwriter, wrote on his official Twitter account last Tuesday that “From now on, the release day of ‘Monthly Yoon Jong-shin’ will be set to the day the ratings are done. Please tell me I don’t need to put age mark on the video!”

Yoon has released songs and their videos every month, called “Monthly Yoon Jong-shin” since May of 2010.

Rapper Eun Ji-won, the former member of idol group Sechs Kies, also criticized the system on his Twitter by saying, “Music video pre-censorship? Is that necessary? We must have given them too much authority. If so, I won’t make music videos any longer!”

Music fans here have started a strong backlash by gathering signatures opposing the expanded ratings system, via major portal website Daum starting August 4.

As of Monday, over 10,000 people signed the petition against the government measure, writing the opposing message on the page.


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