South Korea has passed a stricter copyright law to fight online piracy, meaning sharing links to illegally copied anime and manga could soon lead to legal consequences.
On January 29th, South Korea’s National Assembly approved changes to the Copyright Act, as reported by The Korea Herald. These changes aim to combat illegal sharing and better protect the rights of content creators and media organizations.
The updated law now carries stricter penalties for major copyright violations. The maximum prison term has increased from five to seven years, and the largest fine is now 100 million won (about $68,000). A key change also addresses the practice of sharing links to illegally copied content.
South Korea ramps up pirated manga & anime penalties
The new rules mean that sharing links to illegally copied comics, webtoons, anime, movies, and other content can now be a crime. Simply knowing you’re sharing pirated material is enough to be considered an offense.
This means that people who run illegal websites sharing copyrighted content, as well as those who knowingly share links to those sites, could face legal penalties.
Officials will have more authority to block websites that host pirated content, even those located in other countries. This will help them act quickly when they find illegal material online.
This stricter approach shows increasing worry about how much digital piracy is happening and the harm it’s causing to the entertainment industry, which now depends more and more on viewers around the world.
A major website that illegally hosted manga was closed down on January 29th after an investigation. The person running the site is now facing criminal charges.
In 2025, Japan lost an estimated $38 billion due to anime piracy. To combat this, officials are investing around $650,000 in an AI system that can identify illegally copied manga.
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2026-02-06 16:48