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Webtoons made up two-thirds of reported cases, English led all languages, and fewer than 0.1 percent of pirated items were deleted.
Reported cases of Korean content illegally distributed overseas reached 493.6 million in 2025, the highest count since record-keeping began. Only a tiny fraction of that material was taken down.
The figures come from the Korea Copyright Protection Agency, which submitted the data to Rep. Jeong Jun-ho of the ruling Democratic Party, Yonhap reports. Jeong released the numbers on Oct. 12.
The total rose 19.2 percent from 2024. It also passed the 477.1 million cases logged in 2022, the first year the agency compiled this kind of data.
Webtoons accounted for most of the problem, at 66.5 percent of reported cases. Films and broadcasts made up the other 33.5 percent.
English was the top language for pirated material, at 46.6 percent of reported cases. Chinese followed at 20.4 percent, and Southeast Asian languages came in at 15.7 percent.
The language mix is changing. The English share dropped 17 percentage points from the previous year, while distribution in Southeast Asian and European languages such as Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish and French grew.
Takedowns barely made a dent. Only 243,374 illegally distributed items were deleted, less than 0.1 percent of all reported cases.
Jeong is calling for more teams to monitor digital piracy and for closer cooperation with authorities abroad.
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