The protection of young children will be at the forefront of the International Film Classification Forum 2015 on Thursday.

Korea is the only nation in Asia hosting an international conference to discuss classification and rating for video content, according to Lee Kyong-sook, chairwoman of the forum’s host Korea Media Rating Board. 

The countries participating in this year’s forum all have different types of organizations for doling out the ratings, including government organizations, public organizations like the Korea Media Rating Board and private organizations like in Japan, she explained. 

“The forum will introduce each country’s categorization criteria ... and be a place to debate responses to recent developments, such as the need for online content rating,” Lee said at a press conference ahead of the forum at the Korea Press Center in Seoul on Wednesday. 

In particular, this year’s discussions will focus on the ideal ratings system for protecting children against harmful content.

“Other countries are moving toward narrower categorizations for young children, but Korea’s rating system groups all children 0-12 years of age together,” Lee added, noting that many of the complaints lodged with the Media Rating Board have been about very young children being frightened or shocked by content rated acceptable for all ages, which in turn disturbs the viewing experience of older children in theaters.

Germany breaks down the age groups even further, with five ratings -- 0, 6, 12, 16 and 18 -- according to Stefan Linz, head of classification at FSK, the country’s self-regulatory rating board.

In addition to ratings for offline content, the forum will include sessions about regulating online content to protect children. According to the forum’s organizers, other countries -- mainly in Europe -- are experimenting with self-reported ratings or automatic content recognition systems for online content. 

Korea has a memorandum of understanding with England to import its automatic “You Rate It” system early next year, although it will not be implemented right away, Lee said. 

The chairwoman also spoke about the difficulty of enforcing viewing restrictions for online content, noting that the Media Rating Board only had the jurisdiction to rate “content that was distributed for profit.” This limited mandate bars the Board from rating content such as web dramas, which are distributed free to viewers.

The third International Film Classification Forum will bring together representatives from countries such as Canada, Germany, Singapore, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. It is set to take place at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at the BEXCO Exhibition Center 1 in Busan.

By Won Ho-jung (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)