In a major blow to illegal digital distribution networks, Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in tandem with the Korean National Police Agency, Interpol, and industry giant Naver Webtoon, succeeded in dismantling three major piracy websites operating out of North Africa. The joint operation resulted in the arrest of a primary site operator known by the alias "DEV" and the complete closure of the illegal portals.

The shuttered network — comprising dedicated webtoon and web novel piracy platforms alongside a third hub that aggregated material from both — had been active since July 2024. Authorities revealed the ring illegally copied and distributed 83,688 copyrighted works, including 30,926 webtoons and 5,202 web novels. Among the compromised intellectual property were massive hit titles such as "The Trauma Code."

Korean cultural exports, collectively known as "K-content," accounted for approximately 57 percent of the pirated material. The ministry estimates these three platforms alone inflicted over 20 billion won ($14.2 million) in annual financial damage on the creative industry.

Significantly, investigators highlighted that these platforms functioned as first distributors. The operators illegally scraped, scanned, and translated paid content from official Korean platforms into English before distributing it online. Because secondary pirate sites frequently re-scraped content from these primary hubs, the true scope of secondary global damage is believed to be vastly higher.

The breakthrough is the first major victory for the ministry’s new Copyright Special Judicial Police unit, which officially launched on June 30. The investigation originally kicked off in March when Naver Webtoon’s proprietary infringement-monitoring system flagged suspicious automated scraping. Recognizing the international footprint of the network, the ministry activated Interpol’s I-SOP project — a specialized channel targeting transnational organized crime.

A coordinated strategy was executed involving an Interpol I-SOP specialist based in Singapore and a Korean police liaison officer stationed at a Korean embassy in North Africa. Working closely with local North African authorities, the team successfully traced the digital trail, leading to the mid-July shutdown of the domain ecosystem and the operator's arrest. This operation follows a similar joint bust executed in Vietnam.

"As the global standing of K-content rises, copyright infringement targeting it is becoming increasingly sophisticated and widespread," said Kim Jae-hyun, director general of the Culture and Media Industry Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. "Moving forward, we will further strengthen cooperation with international organizations such as Interpol and overseas investigative agencies, while communicating closely with domestic industry partners to do our utmost to protect K-content copyrights."

Echoing the sentiment, Park Jun-seong, director general of the International Police Cooperation Bureau at the Korean National Police Agency, noted: "This case holds great significance as it demonstrates a successful model of international joint investigation, where the Culture Ministry and the Police Agency teamed up to track down criminals even in the North Africa region to respond to overseas K-content copyright infringement. We plan to further expand international cooperation to counter the illegal distribution of K-content and actively continue our joint efforts with the Culture Ministry."

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.