Seven Years In Prison Over Webtoons? South Korea’s Controversial Law Sparks Heated Reactions
South Korea has passed a new law to combat piracy, which has been met with a heated response from global netizens.
On January 29, KST, the South Korean National Assembly passed a significant amendment to the Copyright Act, as part of a broader effort to protect media companies from illegal content distribution. The revision increased the maximum prison sentence for serious copyright infringement from five years to seven. The maximum fine has also been raised to ₩100 million KRW (about $69,100 USD).
In addition to this, under the new rules, anyone knowingly sharing links to pirated Manga, Manwa, anime, films, or other media content can be held criminally liable.
When an international news outlet posted about this amendment on social media recently, it sparked surprisingly polarized reactions. International netizens found it baffling how South Korean law was stricter on piracy than on sexual crimes against women.
in South Korea dudes are barely facing real consequences for sexual assault yet over some random dumbass generic manwha series they want to give you 7 yrs & a fine thats bigger than the max fine for distributing child p*rn. Get all the way the fuck outta here https://t.co/jUGQU8GykQ
— 🙏THUG🙏 (@ANIDEEZY) February 7, 2026
South Korea gotta be one of the most dystopian countries on earth for giving mfers passing around manhwa/manga leaks harsher sentences than to pedophiles and rapists, goddamn late stage capitalism hellhole https://t.co/EQwEbNui6W pic.twitter.com/RxBntLveJa
— Yepeto (@agnistrk) February 7, 2026
Let's pretend pedophiles, rapists and killers doesn't exist, and go after random people across the world jail them for sharing illegal links.
Wow what an achievement. https://t.co/CRwHVZJ3nG— 𝑯𝒊𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒊 𝑺𝒖𝒛𝒖𝒌𝒊 ♣️🍀♦️❤️♠️🌕 (@HikariSuzuki14) February 7, 2026
However, many Korean and non-Korean individuals stepped in to counter this criticism. Many pointed out that crimes against women and children are not uniquely a South Korean issue, but a global one. So, to weaponize it as a “gotcha” moment in an unrelated discussion was disrespectful and racist.
i don’t disagree but it is pretty annoying how non-koreans so casually bring up the shitty korean sex crime laws whenever they want to use it as a tool for an unrelated argument. it’s just a TINY BIT disrespectful to the women & victims in sk who actually suffer from the system https://t.co/yZvmwkoOxR
— ven 벤 (@vengeancetrlgy) February 8, 2026
youre not wrong like the korean justice systems completely fucked but like… lets be real neither you nor the people in your replies actually care about korean women whatsoever, and sexual assault is simply an easy Gotcha card you can pull online https://t.co/waDFfoEpfh
— 고사리 (@driedgosari) February 9, 2026
Y’all don’t care about the issues you care about weaponizing them as gotcha moment. it’s the same recycled “Japan evil, Korea bad ahh Junko Furuta 4B movement shutter noises nth room” dragged into completely unrelated discussions https://t.co/tTOdgIFn7N
— モ☁️ (@mokacchang) February 8, 2026
What's Happening In Korea
Two People Behind Korea’s Worst-Ever Wildfires Finally Sentenced, Netizens Left Flabbergasted
Man Who Raped Mother-In-Law And Sister-In-Law Pleads For Leniency, Netizens Express Disgust
Another Ferry Disaster Scare Shakes Korea—Helmsman Arrested Over The Crash
Koreans Outraged As Livestreamed-Rape Convict Sees Sentence Slashed For Nonsense Reason
