The South Korean government and the domestic webtoon industry have driven the closure of three overseas sites that illegally distributed webtoons and comics, through international cooperation.
Naver Webtoon said Wednesday that three large global sites illegally distributing webtoons and comics were shut down based on international cooperation under a Korea-Vietnam copyright protection framework. The action was carried out under a Korea-Vietnam copyright protection memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed last November between the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05) under Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security.
The sites that were shut down were English-language illegal webtoon and comic distribution sites operated out of Vietnam. The sites had illegally distributed content including Korean webtoons targeting Western users in the United States and Europe, and were found to have been managed by the same operator. According to figures from data analytics platform Similarweb, the three sites recorded a combined annual visitor count exceeding 1.1 billion. The sites are assessed to rank among the largest in the global illegal webtoon distribution network.
Naver Webtoon established a public-private cooperation framework with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and set up a cooperation channel with Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security through international copyright protection enforcement meetings. In this process, Naver Webtoon continuously secured evidence needed for the crackdown—including the operational status and operating clues of the sites, signs of copyright infringement, and damage data—through its own OSINT (open-source intelligence) analysis.
Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security confirmed the suspects' illegal activities and swiftly verified related information starting in January. In mid-May, the Department of Cybersecurity and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05) of Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security and the Ho Chi Minh City police summoned two suspects for questioning. The relevant authorities are currently investigating the suspects' illegal activities while having seized and shut down the servers of the three illegal sites. Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security plans to proceed with prosecution as soon as it concludes its investigation of the two suspects in the case.
"This action is highly significant in that it led to the actual shutdown of sites that had continued large-scale illegal distribution targeting overseas users," said Kim Kyu-nam, Chief Risk Officer (CRO) of Naver Webtoon. "We will continue to strengthen cooperation with investigative agencies and related institutions in each country to protect creators' rights and the value of their works."
Naver Webtoon is continuing its global copyright protection activities—including monitoring illegal sites at home and abroad, collecting evidence of rights infringement, and cooperating with investigative agencies—centered on its dedicated anti-piracy organization, "Anti-Piracy." The company is also advancing its technology for tracking illegal copies, identifying leakers, and blocking them in advance through "Toon Radar," its in-house technology for blocking the illegal distribution of webtoons.
