Caught distributing 32,000 pieces of content… Illegal profits of 400 million won
Captured at Incheon Airport, Pickle TV head A
[Provided by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. No resale or database use]
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Im Soon-hyun = Two Koreans who operated illegal streaming sites that infringed copyrights in Vietnam have been put on trial.
According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on the 10th, the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office detained and indicted A and B, operators of illegal streaming sites ‘Pickle TV’ and ‘TV Champ’, at the Daejeon District Court on the 21st of last month.
From April 2022 to July last year, they allegedly distributed 32,124 pieces of content, including domestic content as well as videos from global online video services (OTT) like Netflix and Disney+, through illegal streaming sites and gained approximately 400 million won, violating copyright laws.
To evade tracking by domestic investigation teams, they reportedly established a corporation in Vietnam and hired locals as developers and HR managers. It was also found that they used aliases when registering domain names for illegal sites and avoided detection by frequently deleting personal information or using virtual private networks (VPNs) and foreign credit cards.
TV Champ site screen
[Provided by Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. No resale or database use]
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism’s Copyright Crime Science Investigation Team, which was tracking Pickle TV, identified A and B as operators last September and requested a red notice from Interpol. A was arrested at Incheon Airport after failing to enter Thailand at the end of December, and B, who voluntarily appeared at the beginning of last month, was also forwarded to the prosecution in custody.
Jeong Hyang-mi, head of the Copyright Bureau at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, stated, “This is an important case that shows even as illegal distribution methods become more advanced and sophisticated, they can be sufficiently apprehended through international cooperation and persistent tracking,” adding, “We will continue to strengthen international cooperation to protect K-content.”