On the 25th, Naver held the inaugural meeting of the News Partnership Committee and announced the list of 11 Commissioners.
This committee includes Kim Eun-mi, a professor at Seoul National University's Department of Media and Communication, Park Ah-ran, a professor at Korea University's College of Media, Hong Seong-cheol, a professor at Gyeonggi University's Department of Media and Film, and Hwang Yong-seok, a professor at Konkuk University's Department of Media Communication, among other academic figures. From the legal sector, lawyers Yoon Tae-ho from BAE, KIM & LEE LLC, Jeong Kyung-o from Law firm BKL(Bae, Kim & Lee), and Choi Seong-jun, representative lawyer from Kim Jang-ri Law Firm, took part, along with journalists Kim Hyun-jun, former executive director of Yonhap News, and Yang Seung-wook, former head of the Electronic Times. Additionally, as a party recommendation, Kang Ji-yeon, Secretary General of the Media Victims Alliance Unpressing, and Kim Jin-hyung of Law firm Yulrip joined.
The Policy Committee is set to establish new evaluation regulations for Naver News's partnership and will continue with follow-up procedures. Attorney Choi Seong-jun was elected as the committee chair and noted, "We will establish a fair and transparent news partnership policy and listen to diverse opinions to ensure that Naver News can develop a healthy media ecosystem."
This Policy Committee was formed at a critical point in resuming the media company's entry evaluation procedures, which had been suspended since May 2023. Naver and Kakao had operated an independent News Partnership Evaluation Committee since 2015 but suspended their activities temporarily due to fairness issues starting in 2023. Subsequently, Naver and Kakao established their own separate committees to start news partnership evaluations.