Illegal Webtoon and Video Sites Repeatedly Return Even After Being Blocked Over 200 Times

16,390 Corrective Action Requests for Alternative Sites in Four Years
Hwang Jeongah: "Search Restrictions Needed Through Cooperation With Overseas Platforms"

Even after access to illegal webtoon and video sites has been blocked, these sites have continued to resurface by changing addresses, resulting in more than 16,000 deliberation and corrective action requests regarding alternative sites in the past four years.

Jeongah Hwang, member of the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea. Photo by Hyunmin Kim

According to data submitted by Jeongah Hwang, a member of the National Assembly Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee of the Democratic Party of Korea, on September 27, to the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), there were a total of 24,297 corrective requests for access blocking of copyright-infringing content from 2023 through August 2026.

Among these, the number of cases that received repeated deliberation and corrective requests—because existing sites changed their addresses or launched alternative sites—stood at 16,390, accounting for 67.5% of the total. By year, the numbers broke down as follows: 6,236 in 2023, 5,771 in 2024, 1,877 in 2025, and 2,306 through August 2026.

The site with the highest number of repeated blocks was ‘HooHooTV’, which was blocked 205 times. This was followed by Azitoon (146 times), NewToki (137 times), TVWiki (117 times), and TVChak (117 times). In 2026, up until August, TVWiki was blocked 82 times, NewToki 45 times, BookToki 28 times, and ManaToki 28 times.

Crackdown on Overseas Websites Infringing Copyright. Yonhap News

Even if existing illegal site addresses are blocked, new modified addresses and alternative sites keep appearing, highlighting the limitations of blocking access alone to prevent the distribution of illegal content. In reality, when searching for the names of major illegal sites on overseas search platforms like Google, the sites appear at the top of the results, which makes it easy to find new addresses despite access blocks.

The KCSC explained that after deciding on access blocks for copyright-infringing content, it provides the block list to major domestic Internet service providers (ISPs) and content delivery network (CDN) operators. However, there have been no cases in which the KCSC has requested a criminal investigation or provided related materials to other agencies concerning copyright infringement.

Assemblywoman Hwang stated, “If you can track down illegal content sites with a single search, no matter how many times they are detected and blocked, the damage to the K-content ecosystem and creators will inevitably continue. To protect the foundation of our content industry and end the reality where offenders evade crackdowns by simply changing addresses, we must enhance our response system.” She went on to urge, “It is fundamental that the KCSC proactively request investigations, and we must also strengthen cooperation with major overseas platform operators in order to devise effective alternatives.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.