Yoon Jong-in, Personal Information Protection Commission Chair, "Will Create Child and Adolescent Protection Guidelines"

[Asia Economy Reporter Koo Eun-mo] Yoon Jong-in, Chairman of the Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) (photo), announced that a personal information protection plan for children and adolescents will be prepared within this year. This is a follow-up measure in response to the increasing need for personal information protection specialized for children and adolescents in online environments, as the age of users accessing online services is gradually decreasing and remote education has become more active due to COVID-19.

Chairman Yoon stated at an online press briefing held yesterday to mark the first anniversary of the PIPC’s launch on the 5th, in response to a question about overseas personal information protection cases that could be introduced domestically, "We have been paying close attention to recent personal information protection cases specialized for children and adolescents." The PIPC was established as a central administrative agency last August by unifying personal information protection functions that had been dispersed across the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Korea Communications Commission, and others.

Interest in protecting the personal information of children and adolescents is emerging as an important issue internationally as well. Previously, in the United States, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) imposed a fine of $170 million (approximately 194.5 billion KRW) on YouTube in 2019 for collecting children’s personal information without parental consent. Overseas, there is a trend of preparing and applying related regulations and guidelines that consider the special characteristics of children and adolescents. Chairman Yoon cited the UK’s ‘Age-Appropriate Design Code’ and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s ‘Recommendation on Children in the Digital Environment’ as benchmarking examples.

Chairman Yoon explained, "The Age-Appropriate Design Code requires companies providing online services accessible to those under 18 to prioritize the interests of children and adolescents when designing and developing services. It guides parents and companies on each of the 15 standards, including personal information impact assessments, parental controls, and online tools, to design services accordingly."

Along with the UK, the OECD also presented guidelines for online service providers through the ‘Recommendation on Children in the Digital Environment,’ classifying the risks faced by children under 18 online and providing concise and clear information that children can understand.

Chairman Yoon said, "Guidelines such as setting higher default privacy settings for services targeting children and adolescents are also worth referencing for us," adding, "Since this is a matter closely related to personal information protection work that affects the daily lives of citizens, we are monitoring it with great interest." The PIPC operates a related research team and plans to present measures in the form of guidelines within this year.