GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us
that South Korea is according to the United States not fighting piracy enough.
The Asian country suffers from pretty high piracy rates and with a wide spread
of broadband connections movies and software are spread rapidly trough the
country.
The United States has a special watch list on which it puts
countries that are known for high piracy rates. On this list you can also find
countries like China, Taiwan, Ukraine, India and Argentina. South Korea regrets
the piracy problem but has no real idea to solve te problem.
 South
Korea has moved between the U.S. trade representative's priority watch
list and a less-critical watch list several times over the past decade.
The priority list is one step removed from the top offender status. The
United States has not set a timetable, but if South Korea does not comply,
the federal government could elevate the country's offender status and
impose sanctions, a step it has taken against others in the past. Ukraine
failed to stem music and movie piracy, and it is now subject to $75
million in sanctions. Slapping such tough and unilateral U.S. sanctions on
South Korea could be more difficult, because, unlike Ukraine, South Korea
is a member of the World Trade Organization, Zoellick's office
said.
"We express the position that it is very
disappointing and regrettable," said Hyunju Lee, counselor for economic
affairs at the South Korean embassy. "We did our best effort and made
substantial improvements in the [intellectual property] protection area in
cooperation with the U.S. during the last year. In view of that, we cannot
understand why they added us to the watch
list." |
To be removed from the list, South Korea must meet
requirements set forth by the U.S. trade representative's office, which include
passing laws that empower Korean law enforcement and regulatory agencies to
crack down on piracy. Read more here.
Source: Yahoo.com
