Govt. to crack down on illegal file-sharing websites

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday that a crackdown on online copyright infringements of content will run until the end of the year in collaboration with the National Police Agency and Interpol.

In a joint probe that will continue throughout the remainder of this year, the officials will clamp down on the illegal sharing of webtoons, movies, dramas and other video content at websites. "Illegal site operators take away legitimate profits from creators and threaten the ecosystem of the K-content industry," the ministry said.

Police officers from the NPA's National Office of Investigation will join forces with the ministry to form a task force on copyright infringements.

A substantial portion of such illegal websites have their servers located outside of South Korea, making it difficult for local law enforcement to investigate them. As such, the South Korean officials have requested Interpol to aid them in the international investigation.

Since 2018, the ministry-police joint crackdown targeted 211 illegal websites and apprehended 99 suspects linked to the copyright infringement crimes. Last year's probe resulted in the shutdown of eight websites and multiple arrests.

In a bust in December, the ministry and the Korea Copyright Protection Agency cooperated in the US Department of Homeland Security in bringing down an illegal webtoon-sharing website that had evaded the law by locating its server outside the country. The website had 21.7 million visitors in 2023 alone, and is believed to have inflicted over 50 billion won ($37.4 million) in copyright infringements to the webtoon industry.

Promotion of such illegal websites resulted in a bizarre incident here as well. A suspect in last year's vandalism of Gyeongbokgung's walls had painted promotional messages about a website for illegally downloading videos on the main palace of the Joseon era (1392-1910), subjecting himself and the owner of the website to criminal punishment.

Many of these illegal file-sharing websites are also in partnership with other illegal websites offering gambling or adult content, in order to make profit from advertisement banners leading to such websites. In the investigation for copyright infringement at the file-sharing websites, officials will also look for other online crimes such as online gambling and prostitution, and will forward the cases to other branches in the police.