The operator of Korea's largest illegal webtoon sharing site, who renounced Korean citizenship and fled to Japan, has been extradited back to Korea through cooperation between Korean and Japanese authorities. Despite the implementation of a system for immediate blocking of illegal copyright infringement sites, this extradition is assessed as confirming the government's will to pursue criminals to the end and eradicate illegal sites, even as illegal websites continue to use technical workarounds.
The Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the 11th that they received the extradition of A (37 years old), an offender who operated an illegal manga sharing site, from Japanese authorities through Gimpo Airport.
A is suspected of operating an illegal manga sharing site from 2015 to 2022, illegally posting approximately 1,400 famous manga works including 'Slam Dunk,' 'One Piece,' and 'Detective Conan,' and publishing gambling site advertisements.
He is known to have left for Japan in 2017 and naturalized as a Japanese citizen in 2022. The industry suspects A of being the operator of 'NewToki,' Korea's largest illegal webtoon sharing site that continues to operate as of recently. NewToki is a major site that has distributed tens of millions of illegal copies of webtoons and web novels, with industry damage from illegal sharing estimated at approximately 600 billion won annually. By sector, the industry reports that webtoon damage reaches 39.8 billion won monthly (4.8 billion won annually), and web novels reach 10 billion won monthly (1.2 billion won annually). However, A himself is reportedly denying the fact that he operates NewToki.
The Ministry of Justice, upon receiving requests from prosecutors and police in January 2024, immediately began legal review of the case and started consultations with Japanese authorities on the extradition. Subsequently, through extradition procedures conducted in Japan from March to June 2026, it received final approval from Japanese authorities and extradited A to Korea.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, prosecutors, police, and others made efforts to organize the extensive case details in an easy-to-understand manner for Japanese authorities during this process. Last March, the Ministry of Justice and the National Police Agency jointly received seizure materials from A's residence in Japan, securing additional evidence.
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[Source article original link: Electronic Times]
https://www.etnews.com/20260611000337
Most of the comics illegally shared on that site were Japanese manga.
