The 3-Line Summary
- The 8th Korea Internet Governance Forum (KrIGF 2019) met on 5 July 2019 at Sejong University Convention Center in Seoul, running nine community-proposed workshops under the theme 'Sustainable Internet, Governance Together.'
- The agenda mirrored Korea's hottest debates of the day: net neutrality and 'network usage fees' in the 5G era, WHOIS registrant privacy after the GDPR, and labour rights in the platform economy.
- Network-cost disputes and platform-worker protection are live issues far beyond Korea, and KrIGF showed how a national IGF can put government, industry and civil society at the same table to discuss them.
Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on The 8th Korea Internet Governance Forum (KrIGF 2019) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.
Conference at a Glance (from official records)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | The 8th Korea Internet Governance Forum (KrIGF 2019) |
| Edition | 8th |
| Dates | 5 July 2019 |
| Venue | Sejong University Convention Center, Gwanggaeto Building B1, Seoul |
| Theme | Sustainable Internet, Governance Together |
| Workshops | 9 |
| Host | Organised by the Korea Internet Governance Alliance (KIGA), co-planned by public agencies, civil society, academia, industry and the technical community |
(See the source list at the end of this article.)
Discussion Digest — from the Session Records
Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.
1. The Future of Net Neutrality Rules — 'Network Usage Fees' and 5G
Sessions: Open Net workshop 'The Future of Net Neutrality Regulation' (5 July, 15:15–16:45, Gwanggaeto B1 Room 5)
- Professor Park Kyung-sin of Korea University Law School (an Open Net director) opened the debate on reconciling Korea's long-running 'network usage fee' dispute with net neutrality principles [2]
- 5G network slicing, zero-rating and the sender-pays interconnection rule were the main flashpoints [2]
- A division director from the Ministry of Science and ICT joined the panel, putting the regulator, academia and industry at the same table [2]
2. Platform Economy and Labour — Work in the Fourth Industrial Revolution
Sessions: Jinbonet workshop 'Platform Economy and Labour in the Fourth Industrial Revolution' (5 July, 10:45–12:15)
- Kim Jong-jin, vice-director of the Korea Labour and Society Institute, framed three questions: the platform-worker relationship, labour-rights guarantees, and the social consensus needed for sound growth of the platform economy [3]
- Platform-worker alliances, the Korea Startup Forum and a care-work cooperative sat on the same panel — a deliberately multistakeholder cast [3]
3. GDPR and WHOIS — Domain Registrant Privacy
Sessions: Workshop 5 'WHOIS Registrant Privacy Issues after the GDPR'
- With the EU's GDPR in force since 2018, the fate of WHOIS — the public directory of domain registrants — was debated in the Korean context [4]
- The session was published on YouTube, an example of national-IGF transparency in practice [4]
4. Three Pillars — Internet for All, Safe Internet, Internet as a Resource
Sessions: Overall programme
- The nine workshops were organised under three pillars: Internet for All, Safe Internet, and Internet as a Resource [1]
- Free admission and community-proposed sessions under KIGA's stewardship show the UN IGF's multistakeholder format transplanted to a national forum [1]
Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered
Q. What exactly is KrIGF?
A. Korea's national version of the UN Internet Governance Forum: an annual meeting where government, industry, civil society and academia debate internet policy as equals. 2019 was the 8th edition.
Q. What was the hottest topic in 2019?
A. The 'network usage fee' dispute — whether content providers should pay ISPs for carrying traffic — and how to square it with net neutrality. The regulator itself joined the panel.
Q. Why should I care?
A. The network-cost fight later went global, and platform-worker rights are on every country's agenda. Korea's 2019 debates previewed arguments many countries are having now.
What Is Korea IGF? (for first-time readers)
Korea IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.
Why It Matters to You
What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2019 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.
Sources & References
- 2019 한국인터넷거버넌스포럼(KrIGF) '지속 가능한 인터넷, 함께하는 거버넌스' 개최（開催告知） — KrIGF事務局（韓国インターネットガバナンスフォーラム公式サイト） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- 오픈넷, KrIGF 2019에서 망중립성 주제로 워크샵, 오픈데이터 분석 강연 개최（オープンネットのKrIGF 2019参加告知） — Open Net（オープンネット） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- [워크숍] 4차산업혁명 시대 플랫폼 경제와 노동（第4次産業革命時代のプラットフォーム経済と労働） — 進歩ネットワークセンター（digitaljustice.kr） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- 2019 한국인터넷거버넌스포럼(KrIGF) 워크샵5 — GDPR 시행에 따른 WHOIS 도메인등록인의 프라이버시 보호 이슈（セッション動画） — YouTube（KrIGFチャンネル） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- 한국 인터넷거버넌스포럼(KrIGF) 개최 이력（KrIGF開催履歴表） — KIGA／한국인터넷정보센터（KRNIC） (accessed 2026-07-11)
Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.
Related links
- IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
- Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
- Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/
Revision History
Rev. 1 — published 15 July 2019, 15:00 (Article published)
Rev. 2 — updated 16 July 2026, 20:09 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))
— 中澤祐樹
