Govt to make efforts to protect Korean businesses from ‘unfair treatment’ overseas: MAE

Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul speaks during a meeting with Korean ambassadors in Seoul on April 22.

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul said Friday the government will make active efforts to help South Korean companies avoid receiving “unfair treatment” in overseas markets.

He made the remark during his meeting with Science Minister Lee Jong-ho, as the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Science recently established an advisory body to quickly discuss and share relevant policies in the intelligence sectors. artificial (AI) and digital.

The meeting took place ahead of the upcoming AI summit, which Seoul and Britain will host on May 21-22.

“(The government) will actively respond, while closely consulting with businesses, to ensure that our companies’ overseas activities and investments do not face unfair treatment, in addition to key international technology standards,” said Cho.

His remarks came as Tokyo implicitly put pressure on local tech giant Naver Corp. to relinquish control of the popular Line Messenger app in Japan following a major data breach compromising user information.

Earlier this year, Japan’s Ministry of the Interior and Communications issued administrative guidelines for LY Corp. regarding the data leak, prompting it to reduce its capital dependence on Naver.

LY, the operator of Line, Japan’s leading mobile messaging and Internet portal Yahoo Japan, is controlled by A Holdings, a 50/50 joint venture between Naver and Japan’s SoftBank Group.

The South Korean ministry said Friday’s meeting was not called to address the recent controversy surrounding the Line Messenger app. (Yonhap)