RCEP Final Signing "Expansion of Game, Audiovisual, and Tourism Market Opening in New Southern Countries"

"Expectations for Establishing a Stable Foundation for Hallyu Advancement"

President Moon Jae-in attended the signing ceremony of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world's largest free trade agreement (FTA), held at the Blue House on the 15th. He applauded as the signed document was handed over to Lim Jock Hoi, Secretary-General of ASEAN.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] On the 15th, a total of 15 countries, including South Korea, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and 10 ASEAN countries, signed the final agreement at the 4th Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) Summit. It is expected that the environment for the advancement of Hallyu content, centered on the New Southern countries, will also improve in the cultural services sector.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has participated in 31 official negotiations to expand the opening of the cultural services market and raise the level of intellectual property (copyright) standards. As a result, through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, major content export countries such as Japan and Southeast Asian countries have additionally opened their game, audiovisual, and tourism markets, while establishing regional norms for copyright protection.

In the final agreement, Japan fully opened its cultural services market except for audiovisual post-production and broadcasting sectors. Many Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines also further opened areas such as online game service supply, investment in animation, television program and music production, and travel and accommodation investment to enhance the liberalization of service trade.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism explained, "When the market is opened through a free trade agreement, it legally binds to prevent arbitrary regulations or discriminatory treatment against foreign companies by the counterparties in the future," adding, "In that respect, free trade agreements play an important role in the overseas expansion of domestic companies."

For example, domestic companies exporting games to Japan, the Philippines, and Malaysia currently suffer economic damage due to changes in import policies and new regulations in those countries. However, once RCEP is enforced, arbitrary regulations by the counterparties in the promised open sectors will be prevented, ensuring stable exports.

Source: Provided by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, the countries participating in this agreement account for about 70% of the export volume of the domestic content industry. It is expected that the impact on market entry of domestic content companies and the continued spread of Hallyu will be even greater once the agreement is enforced.

While intellectual property-related content in the existing Korea-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement remained at a general cooperation level, this agreement derived norms that serve as the basis for copyright protection comprehensively applied to member countries, considering the characteristics of the participating countries. Additionally, even participating countries that have not joined international copyright treaties such as the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty (WCT) and the World Intellectual Property Organization Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT) can now protect copyrights and neighboring rights at levels corresponding to those treaties.

Specifically, the major achievements include ▲ establishing explicit provisions that apply civil and criminal remedies equally to digital infringements, providing grounds for remedies against Hallyu content infringement in the online environment ▲ codifying obligations for transparent bookkeeping by collective management organizations and mutual remittance efforts for copyright royalties, increasing the possibility of receiving royalties for Korean works consumed overseas ▲ introducing an obligation clause to cooperate in information exchange to prevent online infringement, laying the foundation for responding to copyright infringement in agreement countries.

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Park Yang-woo said, "The RCEP, which 15 countries have finally signed, is expected to improve the environment for Hallyu content advancement within member countries and contribute to establishing a legal foundation for export companies," adding, "The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will continue to actively participate in bilateral and multilateral free trade agreement negotiations to support the spread of Hallyu."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.