South korea: South Korea's media watchdog announced on Thursday that it has issued a response letter to Republican lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives. The communication sought to clarify that the recent amendment to the Network Act does not unfairly target American companies.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the letter, endorsed by KMCC Chairman Kim Jong-cheol, was crafted in consultation with the relevant ministries. The KMCC emphasized that the legislative upgrade is a necessary step to mitigate social harms resulting from the evolving digital landscape and aims to bolster protections for platform users.

The media watchdog assured that the revised standards would be applied uniformly to both domestic and international companies. It also highlighted that the amendment includes provisions to safeguard the freedom of speech for media outlets.

The letter further indicated South Korea's media watchdog's willingness to offer additional clarifications on the revision if U.S. lawmakers require further information.

This correspondence follows a letter from the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, helmed by Chairman Jim Jordan, to the KMCC earlier this month. The committee had raised concerns about South Korea's revised Information and Communications Network Act.

The revised legislation, which came into effect in July, aims to limit the spread of false information online. The South Korean government has stated that the update addresses the growing problem of disinformation in the age of social media and generative artificial intelligence.