South Korea · Open market · Operating partnership
Access on this page: Signed: Korean Sign Language — pending How this page is tested
This page in sign language
Signed end to end by a Deaf creator, credited by name. International Sign on the global site; your national sign language on your country page.
ally is a platform where creators make sign language, captions and audio description — and one API delivers it to any screen. We are looking for the partner who will build the Korean operation with us.
Why we are looking for a partner
One partner video — spoken, captioned and signed by a creator we already work with. It is shared across every open-market page. We do not fake a local signer to look established here.
The people
South Korea's sign language is Korean Sign Language (KSL) — by the Korean Sign Language Act of 2016 a language equal in status to Korean, won by more than seven years of campaigning by the Korean Association of the Deaf. It is one of the few sign languages in the world with that statutory footing.
In plain words
Below is who lives here and what reaches them. Every number on this page is a research seed, not an audited claim — we mark them, rather than publish numbers we cannot yet stand behind.
Why captions alone do not close this gap → Why sign language
The mandate
passed by the National Assembly 31 December 2015, in force 4 August 2016: KSL a language equal in status to Korean, with state duties for research, interpreter training and early KSL access for Deaf children.
failure to provide audio description and subtitles constitutes disability discrimination; the Seoul High Court's November 2021 limit to 3% of screenings at theatres of 300 or more seats is overturned and the case remanded.
the statutory basis of the cinema case; reasonable accommodation duties across services.
Obligated buyers: the three multiplex chains under the 2026 ruling, broadcasters under the Broadcasting Act's accessibility duties, public bodies under the KSL Act, and every provider under the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities.
The gap
Korean compliance is now court-ordered and undelivered. Four film-goers sued the three multiplex chains in 2016 and won in 2017; the Seoul High Court limited the duty to 3% of screenings in 2021; on 3 September 2026 the Supreme Court reversed that, holding that leaving out subtitles and audio description is disability discrimination regardless of cost. The chains now owe access across their screens and have no supply to meet it — subtitles, audio description, and nothing yet in KSL.
What we bring
These are patterns, not promises — each one happened somewhere, and each carries its source. The place is abstracted because the pattern is what transposes.
Pattern
A replicable template: the ordinance language, the budget logic and the service behind it travel together. Any city can copy it.
Two city ordinances — one on healthcare accessibility, one on cinema accessibility — have passed first reading, with ally as technical partner.
Receipt: Parañaque City Council records
Pattern
The platform exists before the first contract. Buyers pay for a service, not for research.
ally's pre-operating research and development was supported by a national science research grant and a city government grant.
Receipt: company fact
Pattern
Real usage, real feedback, and the model for any school or district that wants signed content on what students already watch.
A telco-funded 2021 pilot brought the platform to a Deaf school community of about 800 users.
Receipt: company fact
We publish our signals — including the zeros — on the impact page.
The partnership
The structure is a licensed market operation, built with the local community. Terms are discussed directly.
The playbook
The partner
Operators with standing in accessibility, media, telecom, or government services. Deaf-led organisations and entrepreneurs are explicitly welcome — the best operator of an accessibility market may come from the community itself. Investors are welcome alongside an operator, or to introduce one.
Why now
The Supreme Court ruling of 3 September 2026 is weeks old and the case is back before the High Court to set the scope. Every exhibitor is deciding right now how to comply. A partner with a working delivery layer in KSL arrives before the remedy is written, not after.
Next step
Write to us — by form, by email, or with a signed or spoken video message. From there: an introductory call, an NDA, the Korean market dossier, then terms.
Questions