Gov't teams up with Interpol for major operation against K-content pirates

The government will begin a five-month surveillance operation to crack down on online pirates infringing on Korean content creators’ copyrights, in collaboration with police and Interpol, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism said Monday.

Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency logo [YONHAP]

The government will begin a five-month surveillance operation to crack down on online pirates infringing on Korean content creators’ copyrights, in collaboration with police and Interpol, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday.

The operation follows President Yoon Suk Yeol’s directive for government ministries to cooperate in preventing the illegal distribution and consumption of Korean content online, as part of a broader effort to promote K-content to a global audience.

Since 2018, the Culture Ministry and the Korean National Police Agency have blocked 211 websites and apprehended 99 suspects, 12 of whom have been arrested, through joint online surveillance efforts. Last year, eight websites that were illegally distributing films, videos and webtoons were shut down and seven criminal operators were arrested.

This year’s surveillance will focus on large-scale illegal websites that are causing significant damage to the content industry, according to the Culture Ministry. These websites provide pirated content for free with the aim of luring users into illegal R-rated content and gambling services, the ministry said. Such websites typically operate on overseas servers to evade Korean investigative forces.

The Culture Ministry and police will operate a special task force to monitor and report on targeted pirates and maintain close communication with Interpol. Any criminal activities will be immediately monitored, and their profits confiscated, the ministry said.

“We vow to bring fairness and order to the online content market by not only investigating illegal K-content websites but also blocking their criminal profits,” a Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism official said. “This will lead to K-content being rightly distributed on the global stage and contribute to the betterment of the global content industry.”

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]