Jung Chung-rae, Democratic Social gathering of Korea (DPK) Chief, used his go to to G-STAR 2025 in Busan on November 14th to reaffirm the occasion’s dedication to Korea’s quickly increasing video games and esports ecosystem.
In the course of the roundtable, Jung highlighted his function in sponsoring Korea’s first Sport Business Promotion Act twenty years in the past. He famous that the panorama has modified dramatically for the reason that mid-2000s, when the concept of codifying ‘esports’ in regulation confronted important public pushback.
“Again then, folks insisted video games have been simply ‘dependancy,’” Jung mentioned. “However I saved arguing this was Korea’s future cash-cow trade — and we in the end succeeded in passing the regulation.”
Previous Esports Initiatives Revisited
Jung used the session to stipulate a long-running observe file of esports advocacy. This included forming a Nationwide Meeting esports caucus, internet hosting a StarCraft match contained in the Nationwide Meeting Library, and serving to launch the previous skilled crew MBCGame HERO.
He mentioned he as soon as proposed integrating an esports programme into the Defence Ministry’s Armed Forces Athletic Corps (Sangmu) and inspiring the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee to undertake esports as an official self-discipline — initiatives he described as having “stagnated for twenty years.”
Jung additionally expressed disappointment that the Presidential Award for esports continues to be hardly ever attended by the president themselves.
“I promised that, if I get the possibility to satisfy the president, I’ll formally convey that request,” he mentioned.
2026 Esports Coverage Priorities
Jung emphasised that the upcoming complete revision invoice for the Sport Business Promotion Act — led by Cho Seung-rae, a DPK consultant — is anticipated to clear the Nationwide Meeting quickly. Based on Cho, nonetheless, ministries such because the Ministry of Financial system and Finance “should not notably optimistic” about tax incentive measures, although he mentioned he plans to maintain negotiating.
The DPK chief reiterated that esports has been central to Korea’s gentle energy overseas, pointing to previous milestones akin to particular navy service exemptions granted to elite rivals and early Korea–China esports exchanges.
Regardless of lingering public scepticism of gaming, Jung mentioned the Nationwide Meeting should make sure that these working in sport growth and esports ‘can keep on their companies with larger confidence.’ He added that the Lee Jae-myung administration ‘can be very focused on esports,’ pledging continued engagement with the trade.
G-STAR 2025, Korea’s largest video games commerce present, runs via November seventeenth and contains a slate of publishers, esports showcases and enterprise conferences.
