Act on the Establishment and Operation of Korea Communications Commission (KCCA) last amended by Act No. 11711, March 23, 2013 (English Version)

(1) Article 18 establishes the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) consisting of nine members, in addition to the Korea Communications Commission KCC. 

(2) Under Article 21 subparagraph 3 and 4, KCSC shall deliberate on matters falling under Article 44-7 of ICNA (defamation, etc., see below), and also deliberate and issue correction requests on information prescribed by the Presidential Decree “as necessary for nurturing sound communications ethics.” The “sound communications ethics” language in Article 21 subparagraph 4 was challenged in the Constitutional Court for its vagueness, but the Court held it constitutional (24-1(A) KCCR 25, 2011Hun-Ga13, February 24, 2013), stating that its scope can be narrowed to the information to be restricted under Articles 44-2 and 44-7 of ICNA  . According to Article 8 of the Presidential Decree of KCCA, correction requests include deletion or blocking of information, suspension or cancellation of a user’s account, and other necessary measures such as labelling information as harmful to juveniles. If an intermediary does not follow KCSC’s correction request, KCSC may request KCC to order the intermediary to comply. The intermediary or the poster may file an objection to KCSC within 15 days from receiving the correction request. KCSC reviews the objection to its own request and its decision cannot be challenged.

(3) Article 24 requires KCSC to enact communications deliberation standards to deliberate on Article 21 subparagraph 3 and 4, and according to Article 25(1)2, when KCSC finds that the content of communication violates the standards, KCSC may determine what sanctions under Article 44-7 of ICNA to be imposed upon intermediaries. When KCSC makes the determination it must immediately request KCC to make an order upon it and KCC must follow the request.

(4) If an intermediary does not comply with KCC’s order, it will be punished under Article 73 subparagraph 5 of ICNA (see below). In practice, instead of going through all the due process necessary in issuing the sanctions under Article 21 subparagraph 3, KCSC exclusively uses correction requests under Article 21 subparagraph 4 which have been dutifully complied by the intermediaries although there’s no penal provision for not following KCSC’s correction requests. Objection to a correction request is very scarcely filed (less than 0.01%). With the infinitesimal objection rate, the total number of blocking or removal of information reached 104,400 in 2013.