- “2026 Korea-Japan Intergovernmental Copyright Conference and Seminar” held in Seoul on September 9–10

- AI and other policy issues discussed; visits to copyright policy institutions, including the Korea Copyright Protection Agency

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister CHAE Hwi-young, MCST) and Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Minister MATSUMOTO Yohei, MEXT) held the “2026 Korea-Japan Intergovernmental Copyright Conference and Seminar” in Seoul from September 9 (Wednesday) to 10 (Thursday). The two sides exchanged information on a wide range of policy issues, including copyright policy in the AI era, and discussed ways to cooperate.

Under the “Memorandum of Understanding on Korea-Japan Copyright Exchange and Cooperation,” signed in 2011, Korea and Japan hold the “Korea-Japan Intergovernmental Copyright Conference and Seminar” annually, alternating between the two countries, to share the latest copyright developments in both countries and expand exchanges and cooperation.

September 9: Korea-Japan Intergovernmental Copyright Conference Discusses Latest Copyright Policy Trends, Including AI-Related Issues

The 2026 Korea-Japan Intergovernmental Copyright Conference was held on September 9 (Wednesday) at the Courtyard by Marriott Seoul Botanic Park. The two sides held in-depth discussions on recent copyright issues. In particular, amid rapid advances in new technologies such as AI, they shared their respective policy efforts to strike a balance between copyright protection and facilitating the use of copyrighted works, and reviewed trends in international discussions. The MCST also detailed its budgetary efforts to prepare for the AI era, including tripling the budget for making public works available as AI training data in 2027 compared with this year and newly allocating KRW 3.1 billion for the “AI-Copyright Trust Governance Technology R&D” program.

Meanwhile, the Japanese side expressed keen interest in the key outcomes of the discussions and other achievements, including guidelines, produced by the “AI-Copyright Law and Institutional Improvement Working Group,” which the MCST operated to formulate its AI policy. Accordingly, the two countries agreed to continue discussions on AI and copyright policy at next year’s intergovernmental conference. Other principal agenda items included copyright protection and enforcement activities in both countries, challenges and potential improvements related to the collection and distribution of public performance royalties, and amendments to each country’s Copyright Act.

September 10: Korea-Japan Copyright Exchange Seminar Shares Information on Copyright Protection and Copyright Trust Management Systems

Following the intergovernmental conference, the two sides held the “Korea-Japan Copyright Exchange Seminar”* on September 10 (Thursday) to share information on two main topics: copyright protection systems and copyright trust management systems.

* Venues: Korea Copyright Protection Agency (morning); Korea Music Copyright Association (afternoon)

First, the Korea Copyright Protection Agency (President YOON Sung-chun, KCOPA) presented the achievements of using AI in its “Comprehensive Copyright Infringement Response System” and plans for its future development, followed by a question-and-answer session. The MCST shared with the Japanese side the benefits of using the system to systematically manage the full process from detecting infringing material online to requesting its removal.

The Japanese side stated, “The 2024 Korea-Japan seminar gave us an opportunity to see a demonstration of the Comprehensive Copyright Infringement Response System, and we secured funding to introduce a similar system in Japan.” They added that information-sharing between the two countries had strengthened cooperation in combating the online distribution of illegal content.

The Japanese side also visited the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) during the seminar and discussed its systems for collecting and distributing copyright royalties. The Japanese side emphasized the importance of ensuring transparency in royalty collection and distribution and expressed strong interest in KOMCA’s standards and methods for collecting public performance royalties. The two sides also explored ways for music copyright collective management organizations in each country to improve the efficiency of domestic copyright management and enhance transparency in collection and distribution under mutual management agreements.

CHOI Young-jin, Director General of the Copyright Policy Bureau at the MCST,[오전1.1] stated, “Korea and Japan have long been policy partners with much in common in terms of copyright law and have more recently strengthened their cooperation as countries that export copyrighted content.” She added, “Through this intergovernmental conference and seminar, the two countries shared their respective policy experiences, including AI-related copyright policy and responses to online infringement, and visited policy sites where these policies are put into practice. This further strengthened the foundation for future cooperation to refine copyright policy in both countries.”