Kim Eui-gyeom Proposes Bill to Remove 'ABC Circulation' from Government Advertising Standards

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] On the 16th, Kim Ui-gyeom, a member of the Open Democratic Party, announced that he has taken the lead in proposing amendments to the Government Advertising Act and the Newspaper Act to remove the ABC Association's newspaper circulation certification from the government's advertising execution criteria. The ABC Association, which surveys and publishes the circulation and paid circulation of daily newspapers, is currently the only institution that can verify paid circulation.

Under the current law, government advertisements are specified to "prioritize newspapers and magazines that have reported, verified, and disclosed the previous year's circulation and paid circulation as promotional media." In fact, the ABC Association's announcements are used as the basis for government advertising execution.

The amendment proposes conducting the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's public opinion concentration survey, which is currently published once every three years, annually and using it as the basis for advertising execution. This is a measure in response to suspicions of circulation inflation by the ABC Association.

In a post on social media on the same day, Representative Kim said, "The ABC Association remains silent despite the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's requests for improvement," adding, "The 1.1 trillion won government advertising budget every year should not be based on the ABC Association's standards that say 'let's go recklessly.'"

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