S. Korean Gov't Report: Domestic Piracy Webtoon Sites Repeatedly Reopen Under New Addresses
Webtoon piracy sites in South Korea are repeatedly returning under new addresses after being blocked, with more than 16,000 review and corrective-action requests involving replacement sites recorded since 2023.
According to data submitted by the Korea Communications Standards Commission to Democratic Party lawmaker Jung-ah Hwang on September 27, authorities issued 24,297 access-blocking corrective-action requests for copyright-infringing content from 2023 through August 2026. Of these, 16,390 (or 67.5%) involved sites that changed their addresses or created replacement sites after being blocked.
The number of requests involving replacement sites totaled 6,236 in 2023; 5,771 in 2024; 1,877 in 2025; and 2,506 through August 2026.
Despite the repeated blocking, authorities have not referred any copyright infringement cases for investigation or provided related materials to investigative agencies, according to the data.
In May, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism introduced a new blocking system targeting piracy sites and said it is designed to “significantly improve response speed” as the most effective administrative measure currently available. While Newtoki, one of the biggest webtoon and web novel piracy sites, shut down prior to the new system rollout, a site branded as Newtoki resurfaced shortly after.
Source: YNA (Hyung-bin Park)
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