South Korean content piracy hits almost 500 million illegal downloads in 2025

The Korea Copyright Protection Agency, citing figures submitted to Rep. Jeong Jun-ho of the Democratic Party, said illegal overseas sharing of Korean content climbed to 493.6 million cases in 2025, up 19.2% from the year before and the highest count since the agency began tracking in 2022. Webtoons dominated the illegal distribution landscape, representing 66.5% of all cases, with films and broadcasts comprising the remaining 33.5%.

By language, 46.6% of the infringements involved English, though that share dropped by 17 percentage points, while distribution in Southeast Asian and European languages such as Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish and French increased. Despite the surge, only 243,374 pieces were taken down, accounting for less than one-tenth of one percent of reported incidents. Jeong called for expanding anti-piracy monitoring units and enhancing cooperation with foreign authorities to curb the trend.