Office of the President Fully Opens KTV Videos, Vows to Restore Public Platform's Original Function

"Legal Action Against YouTubers Quoting KTV Videos During Yoon Administration
Violates Basic Principles of Democracy"

On July 9, the Office of the President announced that it would fully open the video works of KTV (Korea National Broadcasting), a state institution, so that the public and the media can freely use them.

Yonhap News Agency

This measure is based on the government’s philosophy of returning public works produced with taxpayer money to serve the public interest, and of restoring KTV’s original function as a public platform that guarantees freedom of expression and access to information.

The Office of the President emphasized, “KTV is a public broadcaster operated by the state, and its works are public works that anyone can freely use under Article 24-2, Paragraph 1 of the Copyright Act. Public works must not become a means to restrict the public’s right to know or to block certain voices.”

Under the previous administration, some critical YouTubers and media outlets who cited KTV videos faced civil and criminal legal action. There were actual copyright infringement reports, video takedown requests, and criminal complaints filed against YouTube channels. In response, the media and civil society criticized these actions as “attempts to restrict freedom of expression by weaponizing copyright.” Further criticism pointed out that such actions violated the basic principles of transparent public institution operation, press freedom, and democracy.

The Lee Jaemyung administration plans to open KTV’s works not only under Article 24-2 of the Copyright Act, but also in accordance with Article 28, which states, “Published works may be quoted within a reasonable scope and in accordance with fair practice for purposes such as reporting, criticism, education, and research.” This will allow all media and new media to fairly cite and use these works.

The Office of the President stated, “The government will guarantee equal rights of use to all media and the public, without distinguishing between specific media outlets or platforms. KTV content will now serve as a foundation for the public’s free access, creation, criticism, and reconstruction, and as a platform for the expansion of the public content ecosystem.”