National Police Agency, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Interpol Jointly Respond to 'Online Copyright Infringement' Including Illegal Webtoons

Signing of International Cooperation Agreement
Formation of Dedicated Team within Interpol

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] To address the issue of online copyright infringement crossing national borders, the Korean government and the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO·INTERPOL) are launching international cooperation.

The National Police Agency, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and INTERPOL will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for international cooperation to respond to online copyright infringement on the afternoon of the 30th at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Since 2018, the police and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism have cracked down on illegal online sites including the largest illegal webtoon site "Bamtokki," shutting down 50 copyright-infringing sites and arresting 51 operators. However, cases of illegal sites operating servers overseas, beyond the reach of domestic jurisdiction, continue to increase.

Through this MOU, the National Police Agency, Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and INTERPOL will jointly promote the "Online Copyright Infringement Response (INTERPOL Stop Online Piracy, I-SOP)" project. From next month until April 2026, over five years, INTERPOL will lead cooperation with investigative agencies from various countries to ▲conduct joint investigations on illegal distribution sites ▲establish a permanent cooperation system among investigative agencies of each country ▲study institutional improvements for international joint responses. A budget of 700 million KRW will be invested this year.

In particular, a dedicated team for online copyright infringement response will be formed within INTERPOL, utilizing the cooperation network of 194 member countries worldwide to establish an international cooperative investigation system. Through this, work will begin this year to select and intensively crack down on representative malicious illegal sites.

J?rgen Stock, Secretary General of INTERPOL, expressed gratitude, saying, "Since COVID-19, we have felt the need for international cooperation against new types of intellectual property infringement crimes arising from the expansion of the digital distribution market and changes in digital technology. Especially, with financial support from the Republic of Korea, we have been able to prepare early measures to establish order in the digital content market."

Kim Chang-ryong, Commissioner of the National Police Agency, emphasized, "We will actively cooperate not only with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism but also with investigative agencies of INTERPOL member countries worldwide to eradicate online copyright crimes that cleverly evade the law by exploiting the borderless nature of cybercrime."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.