Blocked Webtoon Piracy Sites Keep Returning at New Addresses in South Korea
Data submitted to lawmaker Jung-ah Hwang covers copyright-related blocking requests from 2023 through August 2026.
Replacement sites accounted for 16,390, or 67.5%, of South Korea’s copyright-related access-blocking requests from 2023 through August 2026. Authorities referred no infringement cases for investigation.
Webtoon piracy sites in South Korea keep returning at new addresses after authorities block them. Since 2023, replacement sites have prompted more than 16,000 review and corrective-action requests.
The Korea Communications Standards Commission submitted the figures to Democratic Party lawmaker Jung-ah Hwang on September 27. From 2023 through August 2026, authorities issued 24,297 corrective-action requests to block access to copyright-infringing content.
Of those requests, 16,390, or 67.5%, concerned sites that changed addresses or established replacements after being blocked. The annual figures were:
- 2023: 6,236 requests
- 2024: 5,771 requests
- 2025: 1,877 requests
- Through August 2026: 2,506 requests
Despite repeatedly blocking sites, authorities referred no copyright infringement cases for investigation and supplied no related materials to investigative agencies, according to the data.
In May, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism introduced a new system for blocking piracy sites. The ministry said the system would substantially speed up responses, calling it the most effective administrative measure currently available.
Newtoki, one of the largest piracy sites for webtoons and web novels, closed before the system’s rollout. Shortly afterward, a site using the Newtoki name appeared again.
