South Korea court awards 2 billion won to Kakao Entertainment, Naver Webtoon
A South Korean court has ruled in favor of Kakao Entertainment and Naver Webtoon in a civil lawsuit against the operator of Aji Toon, the country’s largest illegal distribution site for webtoons and web novels. The court awarded 1 billion won in damages to each plaintiff, for a total of 2 billion won, and ordered the defendant to pay additional delayed interest and costs tied to provisional enforcement.
The civil action follows a criminal case in which the Aji Toon operator was arrested in August 2024 in a joint investigation by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Daejeon District Prosecutors’ Office. He was sentenced to two years in prison, a sentence upheld on appeal.
Aji Toon is accused of distributing an enormous volume of unauthorized content—about 750,000 webtoons and 2.5 million web novels. Prosecutors described the site as having operated for an extended period at scale, which is why industry observers say it caused substantial damage to creators and the broader content ecosystem.
In the civil phase, the plaintiffs contended that the site’s vast, ongoing piracy undermined creators and the content industry’s business model. Based on the site’s scale and duration, the court accepted the claims and ordered full payment of the requested damages, along with delayed interest and the possibility of enforcement to ensure compliance.
The case reflects a coordinated effort by industry and authorities to crack down on illegal distribution. Kakao Entertainment and Naver Webtoon joined with a consortium of other Korean platforms—the Webtoon Illegal Distribution Countermeasures Council, which includes Ridil, Kidari Studio, Lezhin Entertainment, Toptoon and Toomics—to pursue stronger penalties and deter piracy.
Kakao Entertainment has publicly highlighted the role of its anti-piracy unit, noting a sustained program to remove illegal content, track operators, and shut down illicit sites. The company reports that it has deleted more than 1 billion pieces of illegal content globally to date, a figure it says demonstrates the scale of its enforcement effort.
For U.S. readers, the ruling illustrates how South Korea combines civil liability with criminal accountability in large-scale copyright cases. The decision may influence how cross-border licensing and distribution of Korean comics and related media are approached by U.S. publishers, platforms and investors as digital content markets become more tightly regulated and piracy risks increasingly intersect with international supply chains and streaming or publishing deals.