The 13th Korea Internet Governance Forum (KrIGF 2024) — In-Depth Report: Minutes Digest & 3-Line Summary

The 3-Line Summary

1. On 28 June 2024 the 13th Korea Internet Governance Forum met in hybrid form at Seoul's Franciscan Education Center, running twelve sessions under the theme 'The AI Era: Multistakeholder Governance for Safety and Human Rights.'
2. Debate ran along the safety-versus-rights axis: Korea's role in global cybersecurity governance, the legitimacy of internet censorship by the Korea Communications Standards Commission, and a youth session on 'techno-feudalism' challenging Big Tech's data dominance.
3. In the year the UN adopted the Global Digital Compact, KrIGF connected global agendas with a raw domestic censorship controversy — a model for linking international and national debates.

Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on The 13th Korea Internet Governance Forum (KrIGF 2024) 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)

(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. Global Cybersecurity Governance — Searching for Korea's Role

Sessions: Session 'Global Cybersecurity Governance Today and Korea's Role'

• Visiting professor Lee Chang-beom of Dongguk University mapped the landscape: rising ransomware, DDoS and AI-generated disinformation, plus state-backed attacks, attribution difficulty and the blurring line between crime and war [3]
• Dr Kim So-jeong of the Institute for National Security Strategy flagged poor information sharing among government, public bodies and industry; real-time sharing systems, interoperability and forensic cooperation were urged [3]
• Oh Byoung-il of Jinbonet pressed for transparency and inclusion of diverse voices in security policy consultations [3]

2. Internet Censorship by the KCSC — Is This Acceptable?

Sessions: Session 'Internet Censorship by the Korea Communications Standards Commission — Is It Acceptable As Is?'

• A dedicated session asked whether the Korea Communications Standards Commission's blocking of illegal and harmful content amounts to de facto internet censorship — a distinctly Korean controversy [2]
• The tension between tackling illegal content and protecting free expression made this the sharpest embodiment of the 'safety and human rights' theme [2]

3. Techno-Feudalism — A Youth Session Challenging Big Tech's Data Dominance

Sessions: Session 2 (Youth) 'Transnational Data Governance in the Age of Techno-Feudalism: A Political Inquiry'

• Young researchers argued that as Microsoft and Google build worldwide data centres for AI, capital- and data-rich firms rule 'digital fiefdoms' on which other companies and users must live — techno-feudalism [4]
• Panellists from academia, KISA, Open Net and Kakao debated the inequalities produced by data and platforms, hardships at the periphery, and principles for a transnational governance model to overcome them [4]

4. UN Agendas and Ground-Level Infrastructure — GDC, Routing Security and .kr Policy

Sessions: Sessions on the UN digital cooperation agenda, a routing-security tutorial, and Session 9 on creating new public second-level .kr domains

"The value of internet governance lies in drawing out sound policy by debating social issues from the perspectives of diverse stakeholders — government, academia, industry and civil society (translated from Korean)"
— Lee Sang-joong (President, Korea Internet & Security Agency) [1][2]

• With the UN's Global Digital Compact nearing adoption, a session on the UN digital cooperation agenda weighed Korea's response to the global process [1][2]
• Infrastructure and resource stewardship also featured: a tutorial on routing security and trust-building, the policy of creating new public second-level .kr domains, and a session on the past, present and future of .kr [1][2]

Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered

Q. Why 'safety and human rights' in 2024?

A. Because the stronger the safety measures against AI risks and cyberattacks, the sharper the tension with rights like free expression. Debating Korea's cybersecurity role and KCSC censorship on the same day captured exactly that.

Q. What is 'techno-feudalism'?

A. The idea that Big Tech firms rule 'digital fiefdoms' with their capital and data, leaving other companies and users to live on their platforms like tenants — debated head-on in a youth-led session.

Q. Why should I care?

A. Governments everywhere had to respond to the UN's Global Digital Compact that year, and the balance between blocking harmful content and protecting speech is contested in every democracy.

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 2024 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.

Sources & References

1. 2024년 제13회 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)
2. 2024년 제13회 한국인터넷거버넌스포럼(KrIGF) 개최 안내（開催案内・セッション一覧） — 韓国インターネット振興院（KISA） (accessed 2026-07-11)
3. 글로벌 사이버안보 거버넌스 측면에서 한국의 역할은 무엇인가（グローバル・サイバー安保ガバナンスにおける韓国の役割とは・セッション報告） — 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)
4. [세션2] (Youth) 테크노 봉건주의(Techno-feudalism)시대, 초국적 데이터 거버넌스에 대한 정치적 고찰 — 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)
5. 2024 한국인터넷거버넌스포럼(KrIGF) 국문보고서／영문보고서（公式報告書・韓国語/英語） — 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)
6. [LIVE] 2024년 한국인터넷거버넌스포럼(KrIGF) 개회식（開会式中継アーカイブ） — YouTube（KrIGFチャンネル） (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 9 July 2024, 16:00 (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