The Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) is moving to international standardise webtoons and AI-based electronic publishing technology.

TTA said on Sunday it hosted the 52nd plenary meeting of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 34, which is responsible for international standardisation in document processing technology and processing languages, from Aug. 10 to 13 at Sungkyunkwan University’s International Hall in Seoul.

About 25 experts from 10 countries, including South Korea, China, the United States, Britain, Germany and Japan, attended the meeting. South Korea’s delegation, led by Jae-ho Lee (이재호), a professor at the University of Seoul, included about 10 experts from industry, academia and research institutes who discussed ways to reflect domestic technology in international standards.

SC 34 is a committee that develops international standards so digital documents such as word processor files and e-books can be created, stored, viewed and exchanged across different programs and devices. Key agenda items included laying the groundwork for new international standards in the webtoon sector and ways to incorporate AI into EPUB, the international standard for e-books.

Delegates first reviewed results from AHG 1, an ad hoc group on webtoons established in September 2024 at South Korea’s proposal, and approved moving ahead with a vote on a new project for follow-on international standards development. TTA plans to set up a separate working group if the new project is approved and to develop webtoon international standards under South Korea’s lead. The goal is to establish common criteria so webtoons can be presented and distributed as creators intend even if platforms or user devices such as smartphones and tablets differ.

TTA also proposed two new international standards items to apply AI to the EPUB e-book standard. It proposed application technology that would allow e-books to include various content such as video and audio and be offered in multiple languages using AI language models. It also proposed a standards item to establish a common EPUB foundation so AI can accurately search electronic publications and check grounds and sources, as well as terms of use.

TTA plans to continue follow-on standardisation by discussing specific development directions with international experts on the two new standards items.

Son Seung-hyun (손승현), chairman of TTA, said, "Webtoons and AI-based electronic publishing are promising areas that can expand our country’s competitiveness in content and education technology into international standards." He said, "With this plenary meeting as a momentum, we will actively support standardisation activities by domestic experts so our technology can lead to international standards that enhance interoperability and reliability."