The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister PARK Bo Gyoon, MCST) has stepped up its collaborative efforts with related public and private organizations to ensure the safety of participants and visitors at the nation’s largest international game exhibition G-STAR 2022 (Game Show & Trade, All-Round) and 2022 Korea Game Awards. The 1st Vice Minister of MCST, JEON Byung Geuk, visited Busan’s BEXCO in the afternoon on November 16, 2022 (Wed), where the G-STAR exhibition is to be held three years after the COVID-19 outbreak, to conduct a preliminary safety check before attending Korea Game Awards 2022 to honor award recipients.

In particular, Vice Minister JEON led the preparedness and safety management planning check before the opening of this year’s G-STAR, which has drawn much interest and anticipation. During the inspection jointly conducted by the G-STAR Organizing Committee and the host city of Busan (Mayor PARK Hyung Joon), he checked the status of safety personnel assignment and deployment, crowd capacity and density planning per unit area, space saturation with audience and visitors, medical emergency and emergency response planning, and collaborative response planning among the fire service, police, and other frontline agencies. One of the key focuses during his inspection was safety along the route of movement for general visitors and audience members from Centum City Station on Busan Metro Line No. 2 to the ticket booth and the exhibition venue. 

MCST previously held a working-level meeting with related organizations involved in the G-STAR exhibition on November 8, 2022 (Tue), including the government of Busan Metropolitan City, Busan Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters, and Haeundae Fire Station. During the meeting, MCST thoroughly checked their respective roles in safety planning and management and set up a pan-organizational system of coordination and cooperation. On November 15 (Tue), two days prior to the event, MCST Director-General from Contents Division KIM Jae Hyun also visited the venue and conducted an additional preparedness inspection. Throughout the event, working-level MCST officials will be stationed at the venue to help respond to any unexpected situations.

As the G-STAR exhibition, which will be held for four days from November 17 (Thur) to 20 (Sun), will be joined by most of the major domestic game companies and mark the largest offline event since the outbreak of COVID-19, the Organizing Committee has assigned twice as many operating staff as in the past to ensure a safe and successful event. In particular, it has set the maximum number of visitors per unit area and will control traffic on nearby roads at a certain hours of the day. As the BTC exhibition is expected to draw massive flows of general visitors, the Committee has expanded the pavilion to Exhibition Hall I and the third floor of Exhibition Hall II to prevent potential crowd surges.   

After the preliminary safety inspection, Vice Minister JEON will attend the 2022 Korea Game Awards, the nation’s only game awards organized by the government. At the Awards, which recognized globally popular local online video games PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and Lost Ark with the Presidential Prize in 2017 and 2019, respectively, he will honor this year’s outstanding online video games and celebrate and encourage the achievements of those in the game industry.

Vice Minister JEON commented, “Since not only the industry but also users have high expectations for this year’s G-STAR, the related public and private players will make all-out efforts to cooperate closely in preparing for and running the nation’s largest game festival safely and securely. Just like its official slogan “The Gaming Universe”, I hope every visitor will immerse themselves in the world of games safely.” He also added, “As a game-friendly government department, the Ministry will continue our strong support to revamp unreasonable regulations that hinder on-site industry activities and help the industry sustain sound growth. I also ask for enthusiastic support and cooperation for the promotion of the game industry, as games have become a popular pastime as well as one of the nation’s key export products.”