By This sounds like on the surface some kind of trade barrier put into place to aid Korea’s domestic video game market:
South Korea is considering banning access to the Android Marketplace to its residents if Google continues to offer game apps that are not approved by the country’s regulator. According to a Thursday report, South Korea’s Games Ratings Board officially requested that Google Korea abides by the law, requiring all video games to be rated by the governing body. Google is reviewing the South Korean government’s request but has not yet made any decisions public.
Currently, South Koreans have a choice of two Android-powered smartphones that have access to the Android Marketplace, and more are due for release this year. There are about 4,400 games on the Android Market available to South Koreans, with all of them needing to be rated.
[Electronista]
9:27 pm on March 14th, 2010 1
This isn't really a trade barrier as they make all smart phones in Korea abide by the same law. The only real work around is, like me get an phone and use itunes with the USA settings. Apple has cut the Games tabs out of their Korean itunes store completely. I'm sure there is a similar way using an android.
GI,
Don't go crossing the border anytime soon the news isn't looking to good from where I sit.
11:42 pm on March 14th, 2010 2
The bigger problem is that there is no global standard. Korea uses GRB whereas North America uses ESRB.
12:41 am on March 15th, 2010 3
"This isn’t really a trade barrier as they make all smart phones in Korea abide by the same law."
Actually, it's a stealth trade barrier. To comply with Korean telecom laws, it requires a big investment by foreign companies for what will probably be a small market share in a saturated market.
The real solution is to tell all these shytbag companies to go pee up a tree. Jailbreak/unlock/hack their crippled phones until they do what they should… what the hardware is capable of but the software limits.
There are instructions on Korean websites for many models of phone.
Almost all of my electronics work for ME… not the other way around.