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Korean Government Agencies to Release Standard Contract Guidebook for Webtoon Industry

South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) and the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency (KOMACON) announced on May 29 that they will release an official commentary guidebook for the standard contract used in the comics and webtoon industry. The guidebook will be made available to the public on June 13.

The standard contract, revised in June 2024, includes key protections for webtoon creators. Notably, it guarantees two rest weeks for every 50 episodes serialized and mandates that webtoon platforms provide creators with transparent revenue statements.

The upcoming guidebook will offer explanations of the standard contract's core terms, instructions on how to apply it, and guidance on drafting fair agreements. It will also outline best practices, common red flags in unfair contracts, and how creators can respond to copyright violations.

The guidebook will be available for free download from the official websites of the Ministry of Culture (www.mcst.go.kr), the Korea Creative Content Agency (www.kocca.kr), and the Korea Manhwa Contents Agency (www.komacon.kr).

South Korea's Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) on May 18 announced it had reviewed the standard contract terms of 23 content providers and found 1,112 unfair provisions across 141 contract templates, and ordered the companies to revise them. Clauses identified included ones allowing for the unauthorized production and use of derivative works such as films and dramas without proper consent from creators.

Source: YNA (Soon-hyun Lim)