Cheongwadae Also Participates in Platform Regulation Consultations

Jongwook Cho, Chairman of the Fair Trade Commission. (File photo)

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[Asia Economy Reporter Joo Sang-don] The ruling party, government, and Blue House will hold a closed-door meeting to narrow the differences between the Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Communications Commission regarding the regulation of online platforms. Initially, the ruling party and government planned to discuss the online platform regulation bill this week, but seeing that they were at an impasse, the Blue House decided to participate. It is expected that the legislative review of the related bill, which had been delayed due to a power struggle between ministries and relevant standing committees, will accelerate.

According to the National Assembly on the 4th, Park Wan-joo, the Policy Committee Chair of the Democratic Party of Korea, will hold a closed-door meeting at the National Assembly in the afternoon with Kim Byung-wook, the ruling party secretary of the National Assembly's Judiciary Committee, Jo Seung-rae, the secretary of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee, as well as officials from the Fair Trade Commission, Korea Communications Commission, and the Blue House.

A National Assembly official said, "If a significant portion of the differences are narrowed in this meeting and a final draft is prepared based on that, there is a high possibility that the related bill will pass during this regular session of the National Assembly."

The conflict between the Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Communications Commission over online platform regulation intensified from the end of last year. The Fair Trade Commission announced the legislative notice for the 'Act on the Fairness of Online Platform Intermediated Transactions' in September last year, and after the Cabinet meeting approval in January this year, submitted the government bill to the National Assembly. Meanwhile, Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Hye-sook of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee submitted the 'Act on the Protection of Online Platform Users' in December last year. Although the Fair Trade Commission's proposal was earlier, Jeon Hye-sook's bill was submitted first.

The conflict over platform control between the Fair Trade Commission and the Korea Communications Commission expanded into a conflict between the relevant standing committees, the Judiciary Committee and the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee. However, during last month's National Assembly audit, calls for stronger regulation of platform companies, centered on Kakao, gained momentum, highlighting the need to strengthen regulation of platform companies. Additionally, with the presidential election next year approaching, this regular session of the National Assembly is effectively the last legislative opportunity, leading to the prevailing view that the Blue House has stepped in to narrow differences between ministries and standing committees.

An official from the Judiciary Committee said, "There is no opposition to the Fair Trade Commission's online platform law enactment from either the ruling or opposition parties," adding, "If a consensus is reached through this meeting, it is expected that the bill can pass the National Assembly."

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