'Kakao Meoktong' Recurrence Prevention Bills Pass National Assembly Science and ICT Committee Subcommittee 2

Three Amendments to the Basic Broadcasting Disaster Act Passed
Mandatory Inclusion of Data Center Operators and Value-Added Telecom Operators in the Basic Broadcasting and Telecommunications Disaster Management Plan
Clause Including Tenants Like Kakao in Protection Measures Excluded
Ruling Party Opposition in Opposition-Only Meeting Seen as a 'Variable'

Kakao Pangyo Ajit, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Legislative bills aimed at preventing a recurrence of the 'Kakao outage incident' passed the Information and Communications Broadcasting Bill Review Subcommittee (2nd Subcommittee) of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Communications Committee held on the 15th. All five bills discussed that day were either withdrawn with alternative proposals reflected or approved with amendments.

The "Partial Amendment to the Framework Act on Broadcasting and Communications Development," proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Jo Seung-rae and People Power Party lawmakers Park Seong-jung and Choi Seung-jae, cleared the 2nd Subcommittee hurdle. The amendment strengthens the national disaster management system by requiring the Ministry of Science and ICT to include information about broadcasting and communication services of data center operators and value-added communication service providers when establishing the basic plan for broadcasting and communication disaster management.

The amendment was adjusted to leave criteria such as the number of users or traffic volume only as minimal examples, following the National Assembly Science and Technology Information Broadcasting Communications Committee's senior expert office's suggestion that "it is preferable to delegate the scope of value-added communication service providers to a Presidential Decree rather than specifying it with concrete requirements."

The "Partial Amendment to the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection," proposed by Democratic Party lawmaker Byun Jae-il, which included the obligation to protect data centers even for data center lessee operators like Kakao, was significantly revised and approved after discussions. The original bill included lessee operators as subjects, but it was amended to exclude them. A National Assembly official stated, "There was an opinion that including lessee operators in the mandatory protection measures was somewhat excessive."

Revisions were also reflected in provisions such as establishing grounds for "inspection of compliance with protection measures for integrated information and communication facilities and requests for submission of related materials" specified in the amendment to the Information and Communications Network Act. Since both the Framework Act on Broadcasting and Communications Development amendment and the Information and Communications Network Act amendment include protection measure inspections, it was adjusted so that if inspections are conducted under the Framework Act on Broadcasting and Communications Development, compliance inspections under the other bill (Information and Communications Network Act amendment) would be exempted.

The "Partial Amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act," proposed by lawmaker Byun Jae-il in April last year, was also approved with amendments. The original bill aimed to require value-added communication service providers to submit regular reports on service stability measures and traffic volume status to the Minister of Science and ICT, and to add service stability assurance implementation to the scope of duties of domestic agents. Only detailed matters, such as adding service stability assurance duties to the domestic agent's responsibilities, were adjusted.

However, since all People Power Party members of the Science and Technology Information Broadcasting Communications Committee from the ruling party were absent from the meeting, it remains uncertain whether the bills will pass the plenary session in the future. Due to the absence of ruling party lawmakers that day, only five out of nine committee members attended the 2nd Subcommittee. Lawmaker Jo Seung-rae said, "We must unite both the government and the National Assembly beyond party lines to ensure that the unprecedented communication service outage caused by the data center fire does not recur, and if it does, it can be swiftly resolved. Even if the ruling party shirks responsibility, the Democratic Party will actively step forward for the people."