Differently from China Joy or Tokyo Game Show, Korea's GSTAR should go on a differentiated direction from China Joy or the Tokyo Game Show to become a worldwide game show both nominally and virtually by reflecting game business circle needs.

Such an opinion was expressed through an exclusive interview with team director Lee Young-youl, game industry team, Ministry of Culture and Tourism Cultural Industry Bureau several months before GSTAR 2007 is set to commence on November 8 to 11.

If there are not any differentiating points in comparison with China Joy or the Tokyo Game Show, Lee said, he is concerned "whether how many overseas buyers or visitors from abroad will be able to come to GSTAR 2007." In that regard, GSTAR must not be complacent to the fact that it has laid the foundations of being in the top 3 game expositions in the world game industry thanks to the success of GSTAR 2005 and 2006.

Touching upon MCT's game policy, the team director pointed out: "First of all, it is urgent that the persons involved in the game industry must boost awareness about gaming." Referring to the gambling game Sea Story scandal last year, he said that it is very heartbreaking that gaming's negative side alone has been focused on even though games have many good points.

Negative awareness about gaming is an obstructive element for game industry development, because it causes parents to stop purchasing games and discourages highly qualified manpower from entering the industry, Lee said. To see game directly objectively and to boost awareness about gaming, he said, will be of help to the industry.

Team Director Lee, who stressed that global is a basic direction for both the Ministry and domestic game business circles, said: "The MCT has been diligently propelling game business circles' overseas inroad capacity strengthening as part of 6 priority propulsion tasks, carried out from 2003 to 2007 by MCT's game industry promotion middle and long-term plans."

Lee emphasizes that the game industry is the core industry of the One-Source Multi-Use culture and each nation of the world is rushing into an unlimited competition in the game industry, a next-generation growth engine.

As for tasks our game business circles should solve for the sake of game industry promotion, a next-generation growth engine, he named overseas marketing capacity and information shortage, highgraded special manpower shortage, the preponderance of game content, game culture settlement effort absence, and game core application technology fragility.

Nevertheless, Lee sees game Korea's edges positively by enumerating the best IT infrastructure in the world, on-line game development and next-generation wireless telecommunication service. On top of that, he saw game portal diffusion, continuous online and mobile growth and export, and game-related social interest increase as opportunities. As a result, he explained that Korea accounts for 30% of the worldwide market for online games.