KB News Desk
Three websites offering illegally copied webtoons, web novels and other Korean content have been shut down, and their operator has been arrested, the South Korea’s Culture Ministry said Thursday.
The sites had distributed more than 83,000 items of pirated content, about 57 percent of which was Korean, according to the ministry. The operator, a North African national, was arrested in mid-July following an international investigation involving the ministry, the Korean National Police Agency and Interpol.
The investigation began in March after Naver Webtoon’s in-house copyright monitoring team tipped off authorities. Two of the sites served as primary distribution channels for pirated content, while the third was an illegal file-sharing site linked to them.
The illegally distributed material included 5,202 web novels and 30,926 webtoons, including “Trauma Center: Golden Hour.” The sites allegedly scanned and translated paid content into English, which was then shared by secondary and tertiary distributors, potentially causing further losses to copyright holders.
The arrests were made through close cooperation among the Culture Ministry’s newly established Copyright Special Judicial Police unit, the National Policy Agency’s International Cooperation Bureau, police stationed in North Africa, as well as Interpol’s I-SOP project, which was launched to combat digital piracy and intellectual property rights infringement.
“As K-content’s global standing continues to rise, copyright infringement targeting Korean content is becoming more sophisticated and widespread,” said Kim Jae-hyun, the Director of Culture and Media Industry Division of the Culture Ministry.
Kim said that the ministry would continue to strengthen cooperation with international organizations and law enforcement agencies, while maintaining close communication with domestic industries to protect copyright.
