Terms and Conditions for Service Use
Article 1 (Purpose)
The purpose of these Terms and Conditions is to prescribe rights, obligations and responsibilities of the Company and users for the use of services concerning the internet (hereinafter referred to as the “Service”) provided by the About Korea application and website operated by DOHE Korea (hereinafter referred to as the “Company”)
Article 2 (Effectiveness and Modification)
1. The Company shall notify users of these Terms and Conditions by displaying them on the service page for easier recognition by users or by using other methods.
2. The “Company” may modify these Terms and Conditions to the extent that they do not violate applicable laws. In the event of any modification of these Terms and Conditions, the announcement stipulating the date of application and the grounds for modification shall be displayedy on the About Korea website (https://www.aboutkorea.com) or mobile application, with the existing Terms and Conditions, 7 days prior to the date of application. Modified terms and conditions shall be effective 7 days after from the date of display.
3. In the event that the “Company” specifically notify users of information that ‘if intent to refuse is not expressed from the date of announcement to the date of application, it shall be deemed to be approved’ but a user does not express intent to refuse, it shall be deemed that such user provides consent to the modified terms and conditions. If a user does not consent to modified terms and conditions, the user may suspend to use the Service and terminate the terms and conditions for service use.
4. Consent to these Terms and Conditions means that a user consents to checking modifications of these Terms and Conditions and operation policies, etc. through the mobile application on a regular basis. Users shall fulfill their duty of care in relation to modification of these Terms and Conditions and the “Company” is not responsible for any damage of users arising out of failure to recognize modified terms and conditions.
5. In principle, these Terms and Conditions shall be applied from the date on which a user consents thereto to the date of withdrawal from membership; provided, however, that some provisions herein may be valid even after the membership withdrawal.
Article 3 (Rules Other Than Terms and Conditions)
1. Any matters not specified herein shall abide by applicable laws including 「Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection」, 「Act on the Regulation of Terms and Conditions」, 「Telecommunications Business Act」 and regulations including operation policies established by the “Company”.
2. With regard to these Terms and Conditions, announcement notified by the “Company” to users by using means of notification, in accordance with changes in general policies or operation policies of the “Company”, enactment and amendment of status, notification or guideline of public institutions, shall constitute part of these Terms and Conditions. If there is a conflict between content announced by the “Company” and prescribed in these Terms and Conditions, announcement concerning provision of individual service shall prevail.
Article 4 (Definition)
Terms used herein shall be defined as follows. Other terms not defined herein shall follow applicable laws and general commercial practice.
1. Service: About Korea mobile application, website and any service related thereto provided by the “Company”
2. Member: A person who consents to these Terms and Conditions and possesses an account of About Korea by concluding an agreement for use with the “Company” with a Google or Apple account and who is over the minimum age required to be a Google or Apple account holder.
3. User: The term collectively refers to a person who uses the Service or intends to use such as a member, etc.
4. Nickname: A name selected by a user in order to identify the user and to use the Service
5. Content: Materials including code, character, figure, color, voice, sound, illustration, image and video or information provided by the Company by the use thereof
6. Post: Code (including URL), character, image (including photo), illustration, file, etc. posted or registered by a user in the course of using the Service of the Company
Article 5 (Formation of the Service Use Agreement)
1. A service use agreement is made upon completion of the procedure of signing up for membership when a user consents to these Terms and Agreement and applies for signing up for membership and then, the company approves it.
2. Signing up for membership is available by using a Google and Apple account. In such case, it is deemed that a user grants an authority to the “Company” to link with the Google and Apple account.
3. A person who intends to be a member shall express his/her intent of consent to these Terms and Conditions by ticking a box or clicking a button of ‘I agree to these Terms and Conditions’ when signing up on the website.
Article 6 (Notice to Users)
1. The “Company” may notify users of matters regarding rights and obligations necessary to use the Service by using member information provided by users at the time of signing up for membership through means that the Company can use to deliver including email and in app push notification.
2. The “Company” may, in case of notice to many and unspecified members, post a notice in the Service to substitute individual notices.
Article 7 (Termination of Service Use Agreement and Restriction of Use)
1. If a user intends to terminate the Service Use Agreement, he/she may apply for withdrawal from membership on ‘Setting’ menu in the application.
2. In the event of termination of an agreement by a user, the Company shall delete any personal information and data of the user immediately upon the termination, unless information of the user is required to be retained pursuant to relevant laws and the Privacy Policy of the “Company”; provided, however, that posts, questions and answers, etc. written on a bulletin board by a user in the course of using the Service provided by the Company may be disclosed in a form that an individual is not identifiable by deleting profile, nickname, etc. of the user are removed. With regard to this, if a user fails to take proper measures despite the fact that the “Company” has informed the user of necessity of deletion of posts and data, etc. on his/her own before a member withdrawal, the “Company” does not bear any responsibility therefor.
3. The “Company” may restrict the use of the Service and terminate an account at company’s discretion without a separate notice if a user violates these Terms and Conditions and operation policy, etc.
4. A user may raise an objection against measures of the “Company” pursuant to Paragraph 3 in accordance with the procedures set by the “Company”, and the Company shall immediately allow the user to resume the use of the Service if such objection is reasonable.
Article 8 (Definition of the Service)
The Service provided by the “Company” means services that are available to use regardless of the type of a wire or wireless terminal. The Service provided by the Company is as follows:
1. Operation and development of a platform for provision of information such as sightseeing, broadcast, etc.
2. Intermediation and curation of information and content
3. Support an information search
4. Provision of open content, content posted on a bulletin board
5. Ranking service
6. Other services set by the Company
Article 9 (Time for Service Use)
1. The Service shall, in principle, be provided for 24 hours a day, all year around. Notwithstanding the foregoing, provision of the Service may be temporarily suspended due to business or technical issues of the “Company”, and for the period designated by the “Company’’ for the purpose of operation, the Service may be temporarily suspended. In such a case, the Company shall announce the fact of temporary service suspension and the period of suspension to users in advance, and if the Company may not do so due to any urgent or unavoidable reason, it may announce them later without delay.
2. The “Company” may classify the Service into certain categories and designate the time available to use by each category, in which case, the Company shall announce such information to users.
Article 10 (Changes in and Suspension of the Service)
1. The “Company” may change or suspend the type or content of the Service, which are being provided, upon operation, technical necessity if there is a substantial reason. These changes will not be notified to customers in advance; provided, however, that in case the changes are material or unfavorable to users, the “Company” shall notify service users of it by using a linked page to the initial page, for easier recognition by users.
2. The “Company” may restrict or suspend partial or entire service if falling under any of following cases:
1) Where it is necessary for operation or business of the “Company” such as regular inspection, etc.
2) Where there is an inevitable case due to maintenance such as repair work, etc. of facilities for the Service;
3) Where a user interferes with business activities of the “Company”;
4) Where normal service use is disrupted resulting from blackout, failure of facility, excessive use, etc.;
5) Where the Service is unable to be maintained due to circumstances of the “Company” such as termination of an agreement with a service provider; or
6) Where there are force majeure causes such as natural disaster, national emergency, etc.
3. In the case falling under any of above-mentioned Paragraph 2, the “Company” shall, in principle, announce the fact of temporary suspension and suspension period in advance; provided, however, that if the Company may not do so due to any urgent or unavoidable reason, it may announce them later without undue delay.
4. The “Company” is not responsible for any damage arising out of suspension of provision of the Service stipulated in this Article.
Article 11 (Responsibilities of Service Users)
1. A user shall use this Service and various content provided by this Service with his/her own responsibility and the user is responsible for any and all conduct and consequence made through this Service.
2. In case that a user uploads a post that disrupts public order and good and fine custom, defames others’ reputation, does a deed that infringes the Copyright Act, violates others’ rights, such user shall resolve it at the expense of the user with user’s full responsibility and the “Company” is not responsible therefor.
Article 12 (Provision of Information and Display of Advertisements)
1. While operating the Service, the “Company” may provide various information or sponsored content, etc. by displaying them on the service page or by sending an email or text message, push notification, etc. to users.
2. With regard to Paragraph 1, users may refuse to receive information or content prescribed in Paragraph 1, at any time, except information about transactions and answers to questions of customers in accordance with applicable laws; provided, however, that if the “Company” sends advertisements, etc. other than information about transactions and customer inquiries etc. for which an obligation to receive consent is exempted, in accordance with applicable laws, it shall obtain user’s prior consent to send them.
Article 13 (Obligations of the “Company”)
1. The Company shall not divulge, distribute user’s personal information that the Company knows with regard to provision of the Service, without his/her prior, to a third party; provided, however, that it shall be an exception where it is required by provisions under laws such as the case that a relevant agency requires for the purpose of investigation under applicable laws, Korea Communications Standards Commission requests, etc.
2. The “Company” may create statistics data concerning user’s entire or partial personal information without user’s prior consent with regard to business of the “Company”.
3. If any complaint from a user regarding the Service is submitted, the “Company” shall promptly handle it; provided, however, that if prompt handling is unavailable, the Company may notify the user of the reason thereof and the expected time to handle the complaint by sending an email, etc. collected by receiving prior consent of the user.
4. The “Company” shall compensate damages that a user suffers due to violation of obligations of the “Company” stipulated in these Terms and Conditions.
5. The “Company” shall comply with laws relevant to operation and maintenance of the Service including 「Act on Promotion of Information and communications Network Utilization and Information Protection」, etc.
6. The “Company” will make an effort to provide the best content and network service to users.
Article 14 (Obligations of Users)
1. While using the Service, a user shall not do any of following deeds:
1) To enter false information at the time of sign-up or change of member information, or steal and illegally use other users’ accounts and passwords;
2) To reproduce or distribute or commercially use information obtained by using service information of the “Company” without prior consent of the “Company”;
3) To use the Service for the purpose of sale and advertisement without a prior agreement with the “Company”;
4) To damage or be disadvantageous to others’ reputation;
5) To infringe rights such as copyright of the “Company”, copyright of a third party, etc.;
6) To distribute information, sentence, figure, voice, etc. that disrupt public order and good and fine custom to others;
7) To register or distribute data that has a computer virus program causing malfunction of facilities regarding the Service or destruction and disruption of information;
8) To disrupt operation of the Service intentionally or send information that may interfere with stable operation of the Service or send advertisement or (illegal) spam despite recipient’s explicit expression of intention to refuse receipt thereof;
9) To impersonate another person and indicate relationship with another person falsely
10) To collect, store or disclose other users’ personal information;
11) To distribute false information for the purpose of giving pecuniary advantage to himself/herself or to other people or damaging other people;
12) To gamble or perform speculative acts by betting property;
13) To interfere with another person’s daily life by continuous delivery of word, sound, writing or video or image that cause shame, disgust or fear to such person;
14) To change information displayed in the Service;
15) To transmit or post information whose transmission or posting is prohibited (including computer programs) pursuant to relevant laws;
16) To post a message or send an email by impersonating an employee or administrator of the “Company” or by stealing others’ name;
17) To post data that contains software viruses, other computer codes, files, programs created for the purpose of disruption, destruction of normal operation of computer software, hardware and telecommunication equipment;
18) To conduct other illegal or wrongful acts
2. A user shall not assign or transfer his/her authority to use the Service, contractual position under the service use agreement, and also shall not provide them as collateral.
3. In the event that a user fails to comply with applicable laws, all terms and conditions or policies of the “Company”, the “Company” may investigate user’s violation and may temporarily or continuously suspend the use of the Service or restrict to sign up again.
Article 15 (Authority of the Company to Content)
1. Copyrights, patent rights, trademark rights and other intellectual property rights to the work created by the “Company” or “User” shall belong to the “Company”. A user shall not use or allow a third party to use any information obtained by the use of the Service operated by the “Company” by means of reproduction, transmission, publishing, distribution, broadcast, etc. without prior consent of the “Company” and applicable laws shall apply to infringement of copyrights to posts.
2. The “Company” does not grant users the right to use the name of the service, trademark, service mark, logo, domain name and other distinctive brand features unless it provides explicit rights to use brand features of the Service and other services provided by the “Company” by making a written agreement with a user separately.
3. Any unauthorized crawling, scraping or caching of or access to content (any and all posts created by the “Company” and users including product information, ranking, review, comment) provided by the Service of the “Company” or mirroring thereof to other websites or other media and any attempts thereof shall be prohibited. The “Company” may block access with regard to prohibited acts prescribed in this Paragraph including crawling, scraping, caching, etc. by sole determination of the “Company”.
Article 16 (Protection of Personal Information)
The “Company” establishes and operates the Privacy Policy for compliance with laws concerning any personal information protection including “Person Information Protection Act” in order to protect user’s personal information safely.
Article 17 (Obligations of Users to Safekeeping Their Personal Information)
1. Users shall manage their accounts on their own and they are responsible for any damage and civil·criminal liability arising out of negligent management of their accounts. Users shall not provide their accounts to another person and if a user recognizes that his/her account is used by a third party, he/she shall immediately notify the customer center of the “Company” of it and follow measures given.
2. If there is any change in personal information entered by a user at the time of signing up for the membership, he/she shall immediately inform the “Company” of such matter and modify the changes. The “Company” is not responsible for any damage that a user suffers cause by not modifying personal information.
Article 18 (Collection and Provision of Personal Information)
1. In the event that the “Company” collects and uses user’s personal information, it notifies the user concerned of the purpose of collection and use and obtains consent unless otherwise provided in applicable laws.
2. In the event of the use of collected personal information, if a new purpose of use arises or personal information is provided to a third party, the “Company” shall notify the user concerned of the purpose and receive consent, at the stage of use and provision; provided, however, that it shall be an exception if there are other provisions in applicable laws.
3. The “Company” does not provide user information that it knows with regard to the Service to a third party, without consent of the user, except the cases falling under any of following items.
1) Where it is significantly difficult to receive ordinary consent to personal information necessary to performance of an agreement in regard to provision of telecommunication services, due to an economic or technical reason;
2) Where it is necessary for settlement of payment upon provision of telecommunication services;
3) Where there is a special provision in other laws
4. In principle, the “Company” shall perform tasks such as handling and management of user information, operation of the Service, etc. on its own, but may outsource entire or partial tasks to a “Company” selected by the “Company”, if necessary, and if tasks regarding handling and management of user information, operation of the Service, etc. are outsourced, it shall be announced in the Privacy Policy.
5. Users may request viewing and correcting errors of their personal information possessed by the “Company” at any time, and the “Company” is obligated to take a necessary action immediately. In the event that a user request correction of an error, the “Company” does not use his/her information until the error is corrected.
Article 19 (Compensation for Damages)
1. If a user suffers damages due to intentional or gross negligence of the “Company”, it shall compensate only the actual damages occurred to the user. However, the “Company” is not responsible for any damage that a user suffers caused by the use of the free service provided by the Company.
2. If the “Company” receives various objections including claims for damages or lawsuits, from a third party other than a user, due to torts committed by or violations of these Terms and Conditions by the user in the course of using the Service, the user shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless the “Company” from and against any damages and losses, at the expense of the user with user’s full responsibility, and if the user fails to do so, the user shall compensate any and all damages that the “Company” suffers caused thereby.
Article 20 (Indemnity)
1. The “Company” is exempted from any responsibility of provision of the Service if it is unable to provide the Service due to wartime, incidents, natural disasters, technical defects that are difficult to resolve and other force majeure matters equivalent thereto.
2. The “Company” is not responsible for service suspension/failure resulting from causes attributable to users.
3. The “Company” is exempted from any responsibility in the event that a damage occurs as a telecommunication provider suspends a network service or fails to provide a network service in the normal manner.
4. The “Company” is not responsible for a user failing to achieve expected earnings by using the Service and for any loss due to data obtained through the Service.
5. The “Company” is not obligated to intervene in a dispute arising out of the Service between users or between a user and a third party, and is not responsible for compensation for damages caused thereby.
6. The “Company” is not responsible for any issue occurred due to a service user’s device environment or network environment to which the “Company” is not attributable.
7. The “Company” is not responsible for content of information, data, fact such as its reliability, accuracy, etc. posted in or transmitted to the application service or website by a user.
Article 21 (Resolution of Dispute)
1. A user shall raise or resolve an issue with regard to infringement of copyright or defamation concerning posts or personal information and service use by using the customer center operated by the “Company”.
2. These Terms and Conditions and the Service is regulated and implemented pursuant to the domestic law. If there is any dispute between the “Company” and a user with regard to the service use, the “Company” will make an effort to reach an amicable resolution. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if the dispute fails to be resolved, a lawsuit may be filed in a court of competent jurisdiction under the Civil Procedure Act.
3. If there is any dispute arising in connection with interpretation of these Terms and Conditions, the dispute is subject to the jurisdiction of a court at the place where the “Company” is domiciled.
- Date of Notification: July 1, 2022
- Date of Application: July 1, 2022
