Seoul, South Korea. Photo Credit: Yeojin Yun
Weeks after adjusting its rules to allow the registration of certain machine-generated works, the Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA) has quietly returned to a zero-tolerance AI policy.
KOMCA just recently implemented the change, which is live on the appropriate website. For a bit of background, the Seoul-based society in April 2025 confirmed a straight registration ban extending to both AI-generated and -assisted works.
Though Lee Si-ha stepped in as KOMCA’s head in February 2026, it didn’t necessarily seem that an AI-policy recalibration was in the cards. To be sure, the exec doubles as the chair of the newly minted K-Music Rights Organizations Mutual Growth Committee, which declared “war” on AI-powered music immediately after forming.
Nevertheless, following a report from South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection that KOMCA was already paying out royalties on all manner of AI-assisted works, said recalibration materialized in early August.
As we broke down then, the society opened the door to registering efforts made with the help of (not solely by) AI – while also urging members, who were required to voluntarily disclose machine assistance, to “retain materials that can verify the creative process and revision history.”
“For works created using AI, registration is possible only for songs where a human is the primary creator (where a human creates substantially and proactively, and AI is used only in an auxiliary role),” KOMCA’s site read at the time, a translation of the Korean-language text shows. “100% AI-generated works (simple prompt results) are excluded from registration.”
Now, as initially mentioned, KOMCA has reversed course. Per the Korea JoongAng Daily, the relevant board voted to return to the zero-tolerance AI policy (thereby canceling registrations finalized in the interim) owing to a described lack of “social and legislative” guidance here.
Besides this purported lack of guidance, the pivot arrived on the heels of a critical press conference from National Assembly Representative (and singer) Kim Jae-won, who on August 10th called out the rule change allowing the registration of machine-assisted works.
Additionally, the lawmaker pulled the plug on what was to be an AI policy forum, Today Newspaper indicated. Meanwhile, AI-assisted tracks are apparently gaining commercial traction in South Korea, where YouTuber Joseon HipHop’s “Forest of the Heart” recently cracked Melon’s Top 100 chart.
(Also, as described by a few articles and a larger number of social posts, some Seoul establishments are attempting to put public performance fees in the rearview by exclusively playing AI audio. Of course, the disconcerting trend isn’t confined to Korea, and based on fee structures, certain businesses are presumably likelier to embrace outputs.)
But for now, the effort, which the individual reportedly wrote before using Suno to pump out vocals and more, is once again ineligible for KOMCA royalties.
Regarding what comes next, the society is collaborating with the government and industry stakeholders to establish clear-cut registration standards here – referring in part to determining precisely what it means to be a “primary creator.”
