(c) Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST), together with the Korea Copyright Protection Agency (KCOPA), held the ‘2026 International Joint Conference on Copyright Protection and Enforcement’ at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul on June 9th to discuss international cooperation plans for apprehending overseas perpetrators of ‘K-content’ copyright infringement.

The conference was attended by investigative agencies from five countries, including Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, and the Netherlands, as well as domestic and international law enforcement agencies such as Interpol, the US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Korea Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office, and the National Police Agency. Private content industry representatives, including the Copyright Overseas Promotion Association (COA), Naver Webtoon, Kakao Entertainment, and the Motion Picture Association (MPA), also participated.

Participants engaged in in-depth discussions on copyright infringement cases, focusing on major consumers of ‘K-content’, and intensively reviewed measures to strengthen the international cooperative investigation system.

During the morning session, updates on changes in Korea's copyright protection policies, law enforcement cases, and the response status of KCOPA's overseas offices were shared. In addition, Vietnam and Thailand presented their case studies on shutting down illegal distribution websites and apprehending copyright infringers.

In the afternoon, a joint meeting on responding to ‘K-Webtoon’ infringement was held to review the progress of Interpol’s online piracy response project (I-SOP) and public-private cooperation cases. This was followed by an exchange of opinions on future joint operational plans, cross-border intelligence-sharing frameworks, and plans for operating regular communication channels for swift cooperation.

As a result of establishing an international cooperative investigation framework since 2022, MCST achieved the arrest of four illegal IPTV operators in Indonesia and the Philippines between 2023 and 2024, and one operator of ‘Noonoo TV’ in 2024. Furthermore, in 2025, two operators of illegal streaming sites residing in Vietnam and one mass-uploader of illegally distributed content were apprehended and extradited to South Korea.

Moving forward, MCST plans to build a tighter international cooperative investigation network against cross-border online copyright crimes by further strengthening cooperation with the National Police Agency, Interpol, US Homeland Security Investigations, and overseas law enforcement authorities.

Kim Jae-hyun, Deputy Minister of the Cultural and Media Industry Office at MCST, stated, "By further reinforcing cooperation with overseas law enforcement agencies and collaboration with the private content industry, we will relentlessly pursue illegal distribution organizations and operators until the very end to exert our utmost efforts in protecting the rights of creators."

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