Web Accessibility in Korea

The Asian region is certainly becoming a driving force in promoting web accessibility in its countries and around the world. A nation that best exemplifies this is Korea. Apart from being a developed country whose economy is one of the largest in Asia, Korea has also made significant progress in terms of providing web access to its disabled communities.

Here, we will take a look at Korea’s web accessibility guidelines, and the groups in Korea that advocate web accessibility. We will also look at the Korean laws and regulations focused on web accessibility.

Korean Web Content Accessibility Guideline 1.0 (KWCAG 1.0)

Similar to its fellow Asian country the Philippines, Korea has adopted its own guideline for making websites accessible. This is aptly known as the Korean Web Content Accessibility Guideline 1.0 (KWCAG).

KWCAG 1.0 was enacted by the government of Korea in late 2004. It is made up of 14 checkpoints which are categorized into 4 principles. KWCAG was derived from the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) working draft as of June 2003. KWCAG therefore has many similarities with WCAG.

However, KWCAG 1.0 does not include Several Priority 1 checkpoints which are present in WCAG 1.0. KWCAG also does not include specific guidelines of Section 508. This is because web accessibility groups in the country believe that these checkpoints and guidelines are not applicable to Korean circumstances. These groups believe that fancy images and fantastic animation elements are very rarely used to design web pages in Korea, hence the aforesaid checkpoints and guidelines are not included in KWCAG.

As of March 2010, KWCAG 1.0 will be implemented in stages over the next three years. During this time frame, all organizations within Korea will be required to follow KWCAG’s design principles for creating accessible Web content.

Korea's Web Accessibility Groups

Below are two of the major groups in Korea that focus on web accessibility.

Korea Web Accessibility Group (KWAG)

KWAG is a non-profit, non-government organization of volunteers from the public and private sectors. KWAG’s members all share the common interest and goal of enhancing the accessibility of Korean web sites. One of the major activities of KWAG is the setting up of web accessibility workshops in various cities in Korea.

Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity & Promotion (KADO)

KADO holds many responsibilities related to web accessibility. Along with KWAG, It evaluates the accessibility of central and local government websites. KADO has also initiated the Web Accessibility Certification in 2007. In addition, KADO educates web designers and developers from public & private sectors on web accessibility.

Korea's Web Accessibility Laws & Regulations

To further instill the importance of web accessibility, the government of Korea has enacted the following laws:

• Digital Divide Act - The Digital Divide Act was enacted in 2001 and was revised in 2006. It includes the provision of Promoting IT access environments for disabled and elderly people.
• Government Performance and Results Act - This law was enacted in April 2006. Web accessibility is included in one of its major performance Measures.
• Anti-Discrimination against and Remedies for Persons with Disabilities Act - This law was enacted in 2007. It includes sections focused on providing information access rights, providing reasonable accommodations in ICT, and defining the role of government agencies in terms of accessibility.