Lee Jae-myung: "Investing Hundreds of Millions in Game Probability Items Is Fraud"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate, is having a virtual discussion with Harvard professor Michael Sandel on the theme "In the Era of Great Transformation, How Will Korea Soar on the Wings of Fairness?" at the Jeongdong 1928 Art Center in Jung-gu, Seoul, on the 21st. Photo by the National Assembly Press Photographers Group

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, addressed the issue of probability-based items in games on the 21st, stating, "There are people who say they have invested tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even up to billions of won, but in fact, that is a scam."

Candidate Lee said on the game YouTube channel 'Kim Seong-hoe's G Encyclopedia' aired that day, "At the very least, the probabilities should be mandatorily disclosed, and if violated, it is a deception involving cash transactions, so sanctions should be imposed."

He criticized, "Because they do not respect customers and only focus on short-term profits, trust in games as a whole is lost," adding, "It is difficult to grow with a mindset that treats customers like fools."

Furthermore, he mentioned, "The most regrettable thing is that we have fallen behind in competition with China," and said, "The most critical issue is that the domestic game industry has been significantly damaged by regulations that classify games as one of the four major addictive substances."

He continued, "If games cause social harm, they should be treated as a disease, so classifying them with a disease code is appropriate, but I do not think so," and added, "Generalizing based on extreme exceptional cases is problematic."

Candidate Lee stated, "If we see games as a way of life that plays a very important part in play, we cannot simply take issue with it," and said, "There are people who become overly immersed and cases that manifest as criminal tendencies, but is it really because of the game? I think there are more cases where it is not."

Regarding the issue of China not granting 판호 (game service licenses in China) to Korean games, he said, "Ultimately, it comes down to diplomatic capabilities," and added, "China also needs to coexist with the world, but it feels like they are going too self-centered and closed off."

Targeting the chronic overwork problem in the game industry and referring to past remarks by People Power Party candidate Yoon Seok-youl, he said, "Can a person survive working 120 hours?" and criticized, "Workers are human too, and if employers are desperate, it is right to hire additional personnel. Excessive labor exploitation at a level incompatible with modern civilized society does not seem to be the case."

On the issue of establishing a Sangmu team to resolve the military service problem of e-sports players, he said, "There is no reason not to do it," and mentioned, "It is not bad to provide other ways of contribution rather than strictly carrying a rifle and standing guard duty."

Regarding the integration of virtual assets and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) into games, he emphasized, "We need to lead and pioneer rather than be dragged by the trend," and said, "Denying what exists in reality would be like adopting a closed-door policy."

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