The Korea Game User Association (hereinafter 'the Association') has issued a scathing condemnation of the Ministry of Health and Welfare for its persistent refusal to strike 'internet gaming' from its official website's list of subjects managed by the Addiction Management and Integration Support Center.

The Association argues that since June of last year, the Ministry’s arbitrary classification of games as an addiction risk—despite no such provision existing in the Mental Health Promotion and Welfare Service Support Act (the 'Mental Health Welfare Act')—is a gross distortion of the law. Such labelling, they maintain, unfairly stigmatises gaming culture and industry. A public petition demanding the immediate removal of the term 'game' from the Ministry’s website garnered support from 1,761 citizens.

According to the Association, the Ministry blew past the legal response deadline by some 200 days, only delivering a result on 5 January this year. Even then, the response was a weary repetition of general administrative procedures for local centres, entirely ignoring the crux of the petition.

To this day, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s official website continues to feature: The Mental Health Policy guide page, along with numerous local Addiction Management and Integration Support Centres, which still list internet gaming alongside alcohol, narcotics, and gambling as targets for addiction management.

However, Article 15-3, Paragraph 1 of the Mental Health Welfare Act—the very legal foundation for these centres—explicitly lists alcohol, drugs, gambling, and internet issues, with absolutely no mention of 'games'. This arbitrary expansion of the law has been flagged multiple times by the Association and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Even President Lee Jae-myung stated during a meeting with the gaming industry last October that 'games are not addictive substances.'

Lee Chul-woo, a lawyer specialising in gaming and head of the Association, remarked: 'Following the 2022 amendment to the Culture and Arts Promotion Act, games are now officially recognised as cultural art. Furthermore, a 2024 Gallup Korea survey identified gaming as the most popular hobby among Koreans. One must wonder why the Ministry persists in this behaviour, flying in the face of the Ministry of Culture, public outcry, the President’s own words, and the law itself.'

In response, the Association announced that its Task Force for Responding to the Disease Classification of Game Use Disorder (led by Director Noh Kyung-hoon) is reviewing follow-up actions and intends to exhaust every legal and institutional avenue to protect the rights of gamers.