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JUL.5.2008

MemberShip Agreement


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Chapter 1 - General Provisions

Article 1 (Purpose)
This Agreement aims to specify the service use terms of, and all other necessary matters relating to, Korean.net (http://www.korean.net, hereinafter referred to as “Korean.net”), a portal service (hereinafter referred to as “service”) operated by the Overseas Koreans Foundation (hereinafter referred to as “Foundation”).

Article 2 (Enforcement and Amendment)
1. This Agreement shall take effect after its online announcement over Korean.net. In case a need to amend its provisions arises, it may be amended if such an amendment does not violate related laws. The amended Agreement shall take effect after its online announcement over Korean.net. The intent to amend user rights or obligations, or other consequential matters, must be announced before the amendment could be made. 
2. The Foundation reserves the right to amend this Agreement subject to the requirement of announcing the intent to amend it before such amendment is made. 
3. The user’s acceptance of this Agreement shall oblige him or her to regularly visit the Korean.net Web site and to confirm his or her acceptance or non-acceptance of the amendments to this Agreement. The Foundation shall not be held liable for any damage the user may sustain due to his or her ignorance of the amendments to this Agreement, provided that such amendments were announced over Korean.net. 
4. If the user does not accept an amendment of the Agreement, he or she may be required to give up his or her membership (to terminate this Agreement). If the user continues to use such amended Agreement at least seven (7) days after it takes effect without expressing disagreement to it, he or she is regarded as having accepted the amendment.

Article 3 (Additional Reference Rules)
1. This Agreement shall apply together with the Foundation-provided individual service use information (hereinafter referred to as “individual service use information”).
2. With respect to matters not stipulated herein, related laws on individual service use information may apply. 
Article 4 (Definition of Terminologies)
1. The terminologies used herein are defined as follows: 
1.1 “User” refers to a service user (individual, enterprise, or organization), and users are classified as follows:
a. Individual member 
b. Corporate member 
c. Organization member 
1.2 “User agreement” refers to the Agreement concluded between Korean.net and a user in connection with the use of the service. 
1.3 “ID” refers to a combination of letters and numbers designed to distinguish the users from one another and to allow the users to use the service. The ID is chosen by the user and is granted by the Foundation. 
1.4 “Password” refers to a combination of letters and numbers chosen by the users and designed to confirm the matching between the users and their respective IDs as well as to protect the users’ rights and interests. 
1.5 “Terminals” refers to personal computers, modems, and other devices that the users must install to be able to use the Foundation-provided service. 
1.6 “Termination” refers to the termination of this Agreement by the Foundation or the users.
2. Terminologies other than those defined above shall follow the definitions specified in related laws on individual service use information.

Chapter 2 - Conclusion of User Agreement

Article 5 (Establishment of User Agreement)
1. This user Agreement shall take effect upon an applicant’s acceptance of this Agreement and upon the Foundation’s approval of the applicant’s application for the use of the service. 
2. The applicant shall indicate his or her acceptance of this Agreement by clicking on the Korean.net Agree icon. 
Article 6 (Application for Service Use)
1. To apply for membership and service use, an individual, enterprise, or organization must provide the Foundation-required application information (name, contact person, e-mail address, etc.). 
2. All applicants must give their real names and truthful information to Korean.net. Those who registered without using their real names shall not claim any right to use the service. 
3. The Foundation may take action to confirm whether the name given to it by an applicant is his or her real name. 
4. The IDs of all members who stealthily used names other than their real names or who provided the Foundation with other untrue information (resident number, passport number, etc.) to apply for the use of the service shall be deleted. In addition, these people, enterprises, or organizations may be punished pursuant to related laws. 
5. The Foundation may categorize the members by class based on their use time, use frequency, service menus, etc.

Article 7 (Protection and Use of Private Information)
The Foundation shall endeavor to protect the private information provided to it by its users, including their registered information, pursuant to related laws. With respect to the protection and use of the users’ private information, related laws and the Foundation’s policy on private information protection shall apply. The Foundation’s policy on private information protection shall apply only to the Foundation’s official Web site and not to other Web sites linked to it. In addition, the Foundation shall not be held liable for the exposure of any private information for reasons attributable to the concerned user.

Article 8 (Approval and Limitation of Application for Service Use)
1. Regarding service applications under Article 6 herein, the Foundation, in principle, approves them in the order that they were received, unless administrative and technical glitches occur. 
2. The Foundation shall not grant approval to an application for service use under any of the following circumstances:
2.1 in case the applicant did not use his or her real name, or used another person’s name, to apply;
2.2 in case the applicant gave false information in the user agreement application form; 
2.3 in case it is found that the applicant applied for service use for the purpose of disrupting social welfare and order, and/or time-honored Korean customs; 
2.4 in case it is found that the applicant intends to use the service for illegal purposes; 
2.5 in case it is found that the applicant intends to use the service for profit; 
2.6 in case it is found that the applicant is in competition with this service; and 
2.7 in case the applicant violates any provision of this Agreement. 
3. Under any of the following circumstances, the Foundation may withhold the approval of an application for service use until the reason for such action is cleared: 
3.1 in case the full capacity of the service has been reached;
3.2 in case the Foundation experiences technical glitches; and
3.3 in case the Foundation finds it difficult to approve an application due to reasons attributable to the application itself.
4. The Foundation shall not approve an application by a minor, as stipulated under related laws on individual service use information.

Article 9 (Granting, Amendment, etc., of the User ID)
1. The Foundation shall grant IDs to the users in accordance with this Agreement. 
2. User IDs, in principle, may not be changed. Other than in the circumstances mentioned in Article 9, Section 4 below, a user ID may only be changed by terminating the ID and reapplying for membership, in which case a new ID may be chosen. 
3. The Korean.net user IDs may be connected to the Foundation-operated Website member IDs with the consent of the related users. 
4. User IDs may be changed, upon the request of the users or of the Foundation, under any of the following circumstances: 
4.1 in case the user ID that was registered was the user’s telephone number or resident card number (the applicant fears the infringement of his or her privacy); 
4.2 in case the user ID is offensive to others or violates time-honored customs; and
4.3 in case another valid reason for changing the user ID arises.
5. The users shall take responsibility for managing their IDs and passwords. The Foundation shall not be held liable for any loss that a user may incur from the use of the service due to his or her negligence in managing his or her ID and/or password. In addition, a user shall be held liable for allowing a third party to use his or her ID and/or password illegally. 
6. Matters related to the management and changing of a user’s private information shall follow the provisions on the management and changing of individual service use information.

Chapter 3 - Obligations of Parties

Article 10 (Obligations of the Foundation)
1. The Foundation must allow the users to use the service on the dates that they desire to do so, unless a valid reason for the Foundation not to allow such arises. 
2. To provide a continuous and stable service, the Foundation shall immediately repair and recover any glitch in its facilities and equipment that may hamper the service, unless there is a valid reason for the Foundation not to do so. 
3. The Foundation shall establish security systems for private information protection, and shall announce and observe a private information protection policy. 
4. In case the Foundation objectively deems a user’s opinion or complaint fair and just, the Foundation must immediately act on such opinion or complaint through appropriate procedures. If it is difficult, however, for the Foundation to immediately act on the opinion or complaint, the Foundation must inform the user of the reason for its delayed action and of when it could act on the matter.

Article 11 (Obligations of Users)
1. The user must fill out a membership application form and must provide the requested information truthfully. If it is found that the user provided false information or information pertaining to another individual, enterprise, or organization in registering for the service, the user could not claim any right to the service. 
2. All members must observe the provisions of this Agreement, the Foundation’s regulations and announcements, and related laws, and must not conduct acts that would defame the Foundation and/or would hamper its operations. 
3. All members must immediately inform the Foundation of any change in their address, contact persons, and e-mail address by carrying out the prescribed procedures. 
4. Except in cases when the Foundation has clearly violated related laws and its own private information protection policy, the members shall be held liable for all results arising from their negligence in managing their respective IDs and passwords and for the illegal use of these.
5. No member shall endeavor to earn profit from the service without the prior approval of the Foundation. Furthermore, the Foundation shall not be held liable for any adverse consequence that may arise from any business activity that a member may conduct using the service. If the Foundation has sustained damages from the business activity of a member that makes use of the service, the member shall recompense the Foundation for such damages, and the Foundation may limit the service to be provided to the member. 
6. Unless the Foundation explicitly agrees to such, no member shall transfer, donate, or provide as a security his or her service use rights and status, as stipulated in this Agreement, to a third party. 
7. No member shall infringe upon the Foundation’s and/or a third party’s intellectual property rights. 
8 No member shall conduct any of the following acts (If a member violates this prohibition, the Foundation may limit his or her service use and may take restrictive measures against him or her, including legal action.): 
8.1 providing false information when applying for membership, or giving false private information in place of the information previously given;
8.2 stealthily using another person’s private information (ID, password, resident card number, etc.); 
8.3 trading one’s user ID with that of another;
8.4 falsely representing the Foundation’s officials, staff, or related personnel;
8.5 without special rights to do so granted by the Foundation, changing the Foundation’s client programs, carrying out hacking attacks against the Foundation’s server, or partially or wholly changing the Web site or the information posted therein arbitrarily;
8.6 inflicting damage on the service or intentionally hampering the service;
8.7 Without the prior approval of the Foundation, reproducing, publishing, using for broadcasting, or providing to a third party any information acquired through the service;
8.8 transmitting, posting, or disseminating, via e-mail or other means, vulgar and obscene content/information, sentences, figures, sounds, and/or videos, that violate public order and time-honored customs; 
8.9 transmitting, posting, or disseminating, via e-mail or other means, defaming and/or private content/information that may hurt another person’s privacy and/or fame;
8.10 mocking or threatening other users, or continuously causing trouble or inconvenience to specific users; 
8.11 without the approval of the Foundation, collecting or storing other users’ private information;
8.12 Carrying out acts that are objectively considered linked to crimes;
8.13 Violating this Agreement, or the Foundation’s regulations or user terms; and
8.14 Violating related laws.

Chapter 4 - Use of the Service

Article 12 (Service Use Time)
1. In principle, the service use time shall be 24 hours a day all year round unless the Foundation experiences substantial operational or technical glitches. To conduct regular service inspection, however, or to expand or replace facilities, the Foundation may temporarily stop the service on certain days or at certain hours. Such service stoppage shall be announced in advance over the Korean.net Web site.
2. The Foundation may temporarily stop the service without prior notice due to valid reasons such as urgent system checks and facility expansion or replacement. Likewise, the Foundation may completely stop the current service for valid reasons, such as a shift to a new service. 
3. In case the Foundation encounters difficulty in providing normal service due to a national emergency, electricity blackouts, glitches in its service facilities, or a glut in service use, it may partially or wholly limit or stop the service. In such eventuality, however, the Foundation must inform the members of the reason for the action and until when the condition will last before or after such the action is undertaken.
4. In the event that the service is stopped due to reasons beyond its control (e.g., the system manager’s willful misconduct, innocent disk glitches, inoperative systems, etc.), the Foundation is under no obligation to inform the members of the service stoppage in advance. Likewise, the Foundation is under no obligation to inform the members of the system stoppage due to the willful misconduct and negligence of third parties (e.g., broadband service providers, backbone network providers, etc.). 
5. The Foundation may segment the service into several categories, and may designate the service use time by category. Should the Foundation decide to do so, it shall announce this measure accordingly.

Article 13 (Management of the User ID)
1. The user shall take responsibility for managing his or her ID and password. 
2. Because the Foundation manages the users through their IDs, the Foundation may prohibit the changing of such user IDs unless there is sufficient reason to allow such, as deemed by the Foundation. 
3. A user shall be liable for his or her negligent use of his or her ID and/or password, or for the adverse consequences that may arise from the illegal use of his or her ID and/or password by a third party.

Article 14 (Management of Postings)
Under each of the following circumstances, the Foundation may delete or refuse to register related postings and/or data without prior notice: 1. in case the member heavily insults or defames other members or third parties;
2. in case the member disseminates or links to contents that violate public order and/or time-honored customs;
3. in case the member encourages illegal reproduction or hacking attacks;
4. in case the member uses the service to advertise for profit;
5. in case the member carries out acts that are objectively considered linked to crimes;
6. in case the member infringes on other users’ or third parties’ copyrights or other rights; 
7. in case the member violates the Foundation’s prescribed posting guideline/s, or posts content that is considered inappropriate as a posting; and
8. in case the member violates related laws.

Article 15 (Copyrights to Postings)
1. Members shall have copyrights to their postings on related Web pages. Furthermore, the Foundation shall not use postings commercially without the consent of the poster. The Foundation, however, may use postings for non-profitable purposes, and may post them on related Web pages. 
2. No member shall commercially use data posted on the service, such as arbitrarily processing and selling information acquired through the service. 
3. In case the Foundation considers contents posted or registered on the service as falling under the category of Article 14 herein, it may, without prior notice, delete, move, or refuse to register these.

Article 16 (Provision of Information)
1. If an information is considered necessary for the members to be able to use the service, the Foundation may provide such information to the members via e-mail or postal service. 
2. The Foundation may request for additional private information from the members for the purpose of improving the service and of introducing the service to the members.

Article 17 (Posting of Advertisements and Trading with Advertisers)
1. The Foundation generates part of its investment costs for the service from its advertising service and alliances. The members shall therefore allow such advertisement postings while they are using the service. 
2. The Foundation shall not be held liable for any loss or damage that a member may sustain by joining marketing activities organized by their partner companies through the service or its alliances, or by communicating or trading with the latter.

Chapter 5 - Termination of the Agreement and Limitation of Service Use

Article 18 (Amendment and Termination of the Agreement) A member may terminate this Agreement by using the [Help] menu of Korean.net.

Article 19 (Limitation of Service Use)
1. The Foundation may limit the use of the service by a member who has violated Article 11 herein or who has carried out any of the following acts or falls under any of the following circumstances: 
1.1 in case the member uses an indecent ID or alias; 
1.2 in case the member heavily insults other users and hampers their use of the service;
1.3 in case the member hampers the normal operations of the service;
1.4 in case the Information Communication Ethics Committee or other public agencies request corrective action against the member;
1.5 in case the member has not used the service for more than three (3) months; and
1.6 in case the member’s homepage is found to be illegal for any of the following reasons: 
a. It uploads commercial software packages or crack files. 
b. It posts obscene materials in violation of Article 7 of the Screening Regulations by the Information Communication Ethics Committee. 
c. It posts contents intended for conducting anti-nation acts. 
d. It reproduces copyrighted writings without authorization, or uploads MP3 files onto homepages.
2. In the event that the above service limitation provision is violated by a member, the Foundation may, without notifying the concerned member, conduct measures such as temporary service use stoppage, initializing, and the termination of this Agreement.

Chapter 6 - Compensation for Damages and Other Matters

Article 20 (Compensation for Damages)
As the Foundation offers the service for free, it shall not be held liable for any damage that the use of the service may incur, except those damages incurred due to a violation of its private information protection policy.

Article 21 (Indemnity)
1. The Foundation shall not be held liable for damages arising from the non-provision of the service due to the occurrence of a natural disaster or a war, or due to force majeure. 
2. The Foundation shall be indemnified for damages arising from the irregular provision or non-provision of the service due to the stoppage of electricity supply and of communication service by backbone network providers. 
3. The Foundation shall be indemnified for damages arising from the repair, replacement, regular inspection, and/or installation of service-related facilities and equipment. 
4. The Foundation shall be indemnified for glitches in service use and for damages arising due to reasons attributable to a member.
5. The Foundation shall not be held liable for any damage that may result from computer errors or due to an incorrect private information or e-mail that a member has provided the Foundation. 
6. The Foundation shall not be held liable for the failure of a member to effect the result he or she expected from the use of the service. 
7. The Foundation shall not be held liable for any damage a member may sustain due to any data he or she has acquired through the use of the service. Neither shall the Foundation be held liable for any mental stress or ailment that a member may have developed or suffered from while using the service due to acts carried out by the other members. 
8. The Foundation shall not be held liable for any damage that may arise from the use of any inaccurate information, data, or fact posted on the service by its members. 
9 In case a dispute arises with another member or with third parties in the process of a member’s use of the service, the Foundation shall not be obliged to intervene in such dispute, and shall not be held liable for any damage that may arise from such dispute. 
10. As the Foundation offers its service for free, it shall not be held liable for any damage that may arise from the use of the service.

Article 22 (Trial Rights and Reference Laws)
1. The provisions of the Electricity and Communication Business Law or other related laws, and business customs, shall apply to matters not stipulated in this Agreement.
2. Regarding lawsuits that may arise from a dispute in using the service, the competent court shall be the court that has jurisdiction over the location of the Foundation.

(Enforcement Date) This Agreement shall take effect on September 1, 2003. 
This Agreement shall supersede the previous agreement that has been in effect since September 21, 2001.