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NEWS: Korean Webtoon Artists Demand Extradition of Illegal Webtoon Site Operator from Japan




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The_Outsider



Joined: 09 Sep 2021
Posts: 138
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 10:46 am Reply with quote
I'm sorry, extradition? Over piracy? I mean, unless the person behind the sites is a korean citizen, this sounds like overreaction, I mean, it's not like we're dealing with some international drug lord here.
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Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2589
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 12:37 pm Reply with quote
The_Outsider wrote:
I'm sorry, extradition? Over piracy? I mean, unless the person behind the sites is a korean citizen, this sounds like overreaction, I mean, it's not like we're dealing with some international drug lord here.


It sounds like they were a Korean citizen, but got Japanese citizenship to evade arrest. The company is alleging millions in lost revenue (likely an exaggeration for legal purposes, but it probably cost them at least a small portion of that, which may still be a lot?)

I'm not a webtoon reader, so I can't verify much, but how rampant is webtoon piracy even? It was always my understanding that webtoons are either largely free or pretty affordable and widely available.
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Firefly251



Joined: 14 Jul 2018
Posts: 457
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 3:01 pm Reply with quote
Juno016 wrote:
The_Outsider wrote:
I'm sorry, extradition? Over piracy? I mean, unless the person behind the sites is a korean citizen, this sounds like overreaction, I mean, it's not like we're dealing with some international drug lord here.


It sounds like they were a Korean citizen, but got Japanese citizenship to evade arrest. The company is alleging millions in lost revenue (likely an exaggeration for legal purposes, but it probably cost them at least a small portion of that, which may still be a lot?)

I'm not a webtoon reader, so I can't verify much, but how rampant is webtoon piracy even? It was always my understanding that webtoons are either largely free or pretty affordable and widely available.


webtoons are like manga in sense they are uploaded to piracy sites regardless.
People find having everything in 1 spot as easier than checking the official sources even if free.

Also the 2nd reason piracy is used: its not in a language you can read so you wait for people to translate it and upload it. (honestly this is the 1 thing I pray ai advances in as we NEED to get rid of language barrier as so much stuff can't be enjoyed due to not being translated)

Also curious how this will play out just knowing how jp/ko relations are not super great even on the best days.
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liatris



Joined: 28 May 2019
Posts: 70
PostPosted: Sun Jul 27, 2025 10:36 pm Reply with quote
Juno016 wrote:
The_Outsider wrote:
I'm sorry, extradition? Over piracy? I mean, unless the person behind the sites is a korean citizen, this sounds like overreaction, I mean, it's not like we're dealing with some international drug lord here.


It sounds like they were a Korean citizen, but got Japanese citizenship to evade arrest. The company is alleging millions in lost revenue (likely an exaggeration for legal purposes, but it probably cost them at least a small portion of that, which may still be a lot?)

I'm not a webtoon reader, so I can't verify much, but how rampant is webtoon piracy even? It was always my understanding that webtoons are either largely free or pretty affordable and widely available.

Even if it's free, people naturally gravitate toward websites with good accessibility. I don't think pricing is all that meaningful. In fact, since there's little to no cost involved in producing the content itself, it's all the more likely that one can create a site with excellent accessibility, including UI and other aspects.
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tuxedo-melvin



Joined: 28 Jul 2025
Posts: 57
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2025 9:31 am Reply with quote
liatris wrote:
Even if it's free, people naturally gravitate toward websites with good accessibility. I don't think pricing is all that meaningful. In fact, since there's little to no cost involved in producing the content itself, it's all the more likely that one can create a site with excellent accessibility, including UI and other aspects.


Not into webtoons myself but if it's anything like manga then it's also about convenience. Whatever pops up first on Google, whatever site they get recommended by a friend or post they read that has everything. For those old enough to use torrents it's convenient everything is generally in one spot if they want a hard file.
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