South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) has revealed plans to avoid imposing traditional video game rules on Metaverse. Instead, the ministry decided to issue new guidelines to encourage the growth of the budding ecosystem.
South Korea’s desire to bring together the Web3 and Metaverse ecosystems is fueled by a $200 million investment to support the creation of a domestic Metaverse. Running parallel to this effort, MSIT notes that the imposition of outdated regulations is a barrier to the development of new ecosystems.
At the first meeting of the National Information Policy Committee, MSIT said, “We will not make the mistake of regulating a new service under the current law.” However, discussions around classifying Metaverse as a video game are still on the table.
The ministry has decided to establish fresh regulations for new industries – including metaverse, autonomous driving and OTT streaming platforms. Regarding Metaverse, MSIT raised concerns of hindering industry growth due to lack of legal and institutional basis. A rough version of the press release revealing the plan reads:
“Establishing guidelines for the classification of game products and supporting the adoption of reasonable and consistent regulations and related laws (elaboration of specific metaverse laws, etc.).”
Earlier on September 1, members of the National Assembly supported the official proposal to approve the Metaverse Industry Promotion Act to support the Web3 industry.
Related: South Korea has issued an arrest warrant for Terra founder Do Kwon.
South Korean authorities continue to crack down on those who run the Terra ecosystem while supporting the development of new technologies.
South Korean prosecutors say Do Kwon, founder and CEO of Terraform Labs, defrauded investors by issuing LNA and USTC without informing them of the risk that the prices of both could collapse together.
As a result, prosecutors applied to authorities to cancel the passports of Kwon and other Terra workers.