The 3-Line Summary
- The 10th Korea Internet Governance Forum met fully online for a second year on 20 August 2021, staging eleven workshops and one lecture under the theme 'A New Beginning: Governance for Equality, Fairness and Participation.'
- The agenda captured pandemic-year strains: platform power and targeted advertising, digital inclusion of older people, human rights and democracy in Myanmar, and media literacy for teenagers.
- The milestone 10th edition asked, in effect, 'digitalisation for whom?' — a question every ageing, platform-dependent society is now confronting.
Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on The 10th Korea Internet Governance Forum (KrIGF 2021) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.
📍 Fully online for the second consecutive year due to COVID-19
Conference at a Glance (from official records)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | The 10th Korea Internet Governance Forum (KrIGF 2021) |
| Edition | 10th |
| Dates | 20 August 2021 |
| Venue | Held online (Zoom with YouTube streaming, 10:00–17:50) |
| Theme | A New Beginning: Governance for Equality, Fairness and Participation |
| Workshops | 11 |
| Host | Co-hosted by 14 organisations including KISA and KIGA, with support from the Ministry of Science and ICT and others |
(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. Platform Governance — Sustainable Ecosystems and Targeted Advertising
Sessions: 'Sustainable Platform Governance' (Programme Committee session), 'Targeted Advertising and Personal Data' and related workshops
- The Programme Committee itself convened a session on designing a sustainable platform ecosystem, as platform-regulation debates intensified in Korea [1][2]
- A dedicated workshop challenged how tech firms collect and use personal data for targeted advertising [1][2]
2. Digital Transformation and Ageing — Participation, Inclusion or Exclusion
Sessions: Workshop 1 'Digital Transformation and the Ageing Population: Participation, Inclusion or Exclusion' (led by KISDI researchers)
- Researchers from KISDI asked squarely whether older Koreans would participate in, or be excluded by, rapid digital transformation [2]
- Panels warned that as contact-free services became the norm, the digital divide risked hardening from inconvenience into structural exclusion [2]
3. Human Rights and Democracy in Myanmar — Solidarity across Borders
Sessions: Workshop 'Human Rights and Democracy in Myanmar'
- Following the February 2021 military coup in Myanmar, the programme included a session on the internet, human rights and democracy there [2]
- A national IGF putting another country's human-rights crisis on its agenda made this one of the year's most distinctive sessions [2]
4. Media Literacy for Teenagers — When 100% of Teens Are Online
Sessions: Workshop 4 'The Direction of Media Literacy Education for Youth'
- With surveys showing 100.0% internet use among Korean teens in 2020, the workshop tackled fake news and harmful content [3]
- Acknowledging the limits of school-only education, panellists called for programmes linking families, companies, civil society and young people themselves [3]
Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered
Q. What marked the 10th edition?
A. The theme 'A New Beginning.' Despite a second all-online year, the forum went back to first principles — equality, fairness, participation — and organised eleven workshops into three tracks.
Q. The most striking session?
A. The one on Myanmar. A national forum in Korea put post-coup human rights and democracy squarely on its agenda, showing internet governance as a vehicle for cross-border solidarity.
Q. Why should I care?
A. Digital exclusion of older people and the privacy cost of targeted advertising are universal issues — and they sharpen as governments push services online.
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 2021 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.
Sources & References
- KISA, 2021 한국인터넷거버넌스포럼(KrIGF) 개최（KISAプレスリリース） — 韓国インターネット振興院（KISA） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- 2021 한국인터넷거버넌스포럼(KrIGF) 개최 안내（開催案内・プログラム概要） — 韓国科学技術情報研究院（KISTI） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- [워크숍 4] 청소년의 미디어 리터러시 교육이 이루어져야 할 방향（青少年のメディアリテラシー教育の方向） — 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)
- 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 23 October 2021, 09:00 (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
