Government Arrests Five Suspects for Illegal Distribution of 'Milcam'

Over 34,000 Cases of Illegal Distribution and Unfair Profits
Estimated Damage of 3.4 Billion Won "Plan to Strengthen Investigation"

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 6th that the Copyright Crime Scientific Investigation Unit arrested five suspects who illegally distributed "milcam" online through a focused crackdown last December. They plan to send the case to the prosecution as soon as the investigation is complete. Milcam is a slang term referring to videos illegally filmed or recorded during performances without permission.

The suspects are accused of openly posting milcam on online blogs and illegally distributing over 34,000 cases, gaining unfair profits. The estimated damage amount is approximately 3.4 billion KRW.

The industry, including the Korea Musical Association and the Korea Musical Producers Association, has been responding to illegal distribution through various methods such as campaigns and criminal complaints since 2019. However, they faced limitations in eradicating the issue, especially after musicals in performance were live-streamed on social networking services (SNS) in September last year. Accordingly, the Copyright Crime Scientific Investigation Unit narrowed down the investigation targets to major illegal distributors based on materials provided by the industry and illegal distribution monitoring data from the Korea Copyright Protection Agency, and arrested five suspects.

They operated blogs for an average of 20 months, providing cloud sharing links to buyers via secret comments. What started as simple exchanges developed into habitual infringement of copyright holders' rights for pocket money or living expenses. Milcam sales or exchanges for profit or habitual acts clearly constitute copyright infringement. They are punishable by up to five years imprisonment or fines up to 50 million KRW. Criminal proceeds are also subject to confiscation and seizure. Even if the purpose is personal collection, if permission was not obtained from the production company, it is subject to claims for damages.

To eradicate this vicious cycle, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism launched the Copyright Crime Scientific Investigation Unit in October last year. It is investigating copyright infringement acts that were previously blind spots in enforcement by closely communicating and cooperating with industries such as performance, content, and publishing. In December, as part of a strategy to strengthen creators' rights, they also prepared a focused crackdown plan on illegal milcam trading in performance venues.

Jung Hyang-mi, Director of the Copyright Bureau at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said, “We plan to strengthen copyright infringement investigations through public-private cooperation based on this crackdown,” and added, “We will continue to carry out educational and promotional activities to spread proper consumption awareness.”

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