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Crackdown on copyright infringement and scams leads to repatriation of two fugitives

Published: 27 Nov. 2025, 13:50 Updated: 27 Nov. 2025, 16:21

A joint repatriation team from the National Police Agency and the Culture Ministry escorts a fugitive suspect wanted in Vietnam upon arrival at Incheon International Airport on Nov. 27. [KOREAN NATIONAL POLICE AGENCY]

Korean police have forcibly repatriated two fugitives — an online copyright infringement ringleader hiding in Vietnam and a Cambodia-based romance scam syndicate member — through a coordinated international operation supported by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Interpol.

The alleged ringleader, who was returned to Korea that morning, is accused of uploading 15,863 copyrighted works — including Korean and foreign films, dramas and web novels — to 17 web-hard platforms over roughly five years from 2020 to 2024, according to the Korean National Police Agency on Thursday. Police said he used macro programs to mass-upload the content.

The police agency designated the case as part of Interpol’s Interpol Stop Online Piracy, or I-Sop, project in June. Korean authorities then shared information with Interpol’s Vietnam office at this year’s international copyright protection cooperation meeting. The suspect was arrested in October by authorities in Khanh Hoa Province for overstaying his visa.

I-Sop is a joint international crackdown framework created by the Culture Ministry, the national police agency and Interpol to locate and repatriate fugitives abroad who are linked to copyright violations of K-content. Since the government launched the initiative in 2021, it has led to arrests tied to platforms such as noonoo TV and Oktoon.

For the latest operation, police dispatched a joint repatriation team with the Culture Ministry’s copyright protection division.

The scam syndicate member repatriated the same day is suspected of running a romance scam ring with 65 accomplices in Cambodia from 2024 through this year. Police said he posed as a woman on social media to solicit investments and wire transfers, defrauding 192 victims of a combined 4.6 billion won ($3.14 million).

For this case, the police agency held a strategy meeting with police attaches from five Southeast Asian countries and cooperated with Vietnam’s public security authorities. Police said that when Cambodia intensified crackdowns in October, five members of the scam network — including the suspect, who illegally crossed into Vietnam by land — were arrested there.

The case has raised concerns that Korea-targeting scam rings previously based in Cambodia are spreading to neighboring countries including Vietnam and Laos.

“Both copyright infringement and romance scams are transnational, online-based crimes that cause significant harm to the public,” said Lee Jae-young, director general for international cooperation at the police agency. “We will strengthen cooperation with the Culture Ministry, Interpol and other related agencies to further advance our repatriation system for fugitives overseas.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY MOON SANG-HYEOK [[email protected]]