On September 23, KAIST and the National Assembly hosted a forum to discuss plans to develop Korea into an intellectual property (IP) hub country and establish a committee dedicated to the cause. The event was held at the National Assembly Members’ Office Building.

Many experts on IP attended the forum, including Kab Yoon Jeong, deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Hye-young Won, member of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, Jong-Yong Yun, director of the Presidential Council on Intellectual Property, and Professor Kwang Hyung Lee, dean of the KAIST Graduate School of Future Strategy.

Three experts on IP from the academic, administrative and legal branch gave presentations on the main topics.

The forum started with an opening speech from Deputy Speaker Jeong. He said, “Many members of the National Assembly are in the committee. The National Assembly should work together with the government and private experts to form an IP hub-country.” He added, “Korea has a large pool of human resources. The National Assembly will work hard to make use of these assets that Korea has. We will host forums and collect opinions from various parties to proceed with new legislation and the revision of existing laws to develop Korea into an IP hub-country.”

In his greeting speech Assemblyman Won said, “In a country with limited resources, expanding the IP industry with a market value of over 200 trillion Korean Won is the core value of a creative economy. I will make every effort to realize the proposed plan.”

After a congratulatory speech from Ui Hwa Chung, speaker of the National Assembly and Chang Hee Kang, the former speaker, Professor Lee explained the plan to transform Korea into a world IP hub-country. Afterwards, Director Yun gave a presentation on International trends in IP and Sang-Wook Han, an attorney at the law firm Kim & Chang, talked about the road to becoming an IP hub-country and the revised bill plan.

Professor Lee said, “Korea is one of the top five countries in IP, but lack the expertise in IP-related laws and personnel. I hope this forum will set the stage for leading Korea into an IP hub-country.”

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