An amendment to the Game Industry Act's domestic-agent provisions moved from committee review to the committee-processing stage on 16 September 2026. The bill affects foreign game-related businesses above the existing size threshold that have no address or place of business in Korea, and it would tighten how those businesses may satisfy the domestic-agent duty. It has not been enacted — this is a status change in the legislative process, not a rule change yet in force.

What the bill would do

  • Your own Korean corporation would have to be your agent, if you have one. Where a foreign publisher has established a Korean corporation, or has a Korean corporation over whose officers or operations it exercises dominant influence, that corporation would have to be designated as the domestic agent (draft Art. 31-2(2)). This removes the current option of appointing an unrelated third-party agent instead.
  • A new management-and-supervision duty on the head office. The publisher would be required to train its designated agent and check on its performance of duties (new draft Art. 31-2(3)).
  • A new data-request power. The regulator could require a game-related business to submit user-count and revenue data to confirm whether it meets the domestic-agent designation threshold (new draft Art. 31-2(7)).
  • New enforcement teeth for non-compliance. Where a corrective order for failing to designate an agent, or for violating the probability-item disclosure duty, is not complied with, the regulator could order refusal, suspension, or restriction of the business's use of information and communications networks (draft Art. 38(7) and (10)). Failure to designate or to manage/supervise an agent would also be subject to an administrative fine (draft Art. 48).

No effective date is set; the bill remains in the National Assembly process and could still be amended, held, or folded into a broader revision before any of this takes effect.

What this means for you

  • If you already have a Korean subsidiary or a controlled Korean entity, expect that entity to become your only permitted domestic-agent choice if this bill is enacted as drafted — plan for that even before it passes, since designation contracts with third-party agents may need to be revisited.
  • If you have no Korean entity, your current options (establish a presence, or appoint a qualified third party) are unaffected by this draft. The direction of travel, however, is toward tighter accountability, not looser rules.
  • Be ready to respond to data requests on user counts and revenue if the regulator uses the new data-request power to verify your threshold status.
  • Do not treat a corrective order lightly. The bill would attach network-access consequences to non-compliance with agent-designation and disclosure orders, not just a fine.
  • Track the bill's progress rather than react to headlines. Committee processing can stall, advance, or be merged with other revisions; the practical obligation only changes once the amendment is enacted and an effective date is set.

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