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Authorities arrest individual accused of operating book pirating service

Published: 30 Apr. 2026, 10:31 Updated: 30 Apr. 2026, 11:06

An official from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism's Copyright Crime Special Unit looks at piles of pirated texts on April 22 after arresting the suspect who ran a pirating service for nearly five years [MINISTRY OF CULTURE, SPORTS AND TOURISM]

A person accused of running an illegal book pirating service, scanning and converting new releases and study guides into e-books, has been arrested by government authorities. It is estimated that the suspect’s operation cost the publishing industry approximately 300 million won ($202,019) in damages.

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Thursday said its copyright crime special unit arrested the individual on April 22 on charges of copyright law violations, in cooperation with the Korea Copyright Protection Agency.

From 2021 until recently, the suspect allegedly placed advertisements on blogs, KakaoTalk and X, offering to convert books — including general titles and exam preparation guides — into PDF files on demand, and collected orders through those channels.

Investigators found that upon receiving an order, the suspect purchased secondhand books or borrowed them from libraries before using smartphone scanning apps to produce e-book files.

The pirated files were sold at half the standard retail price. Authorities estimate that the suspect made approximately 100 million won in the process.

A search of the suspect's residence uncovered more than 9,600 illegally scanned PDF files, around 500 books used in the scheme and computer equipment. The Culture Ministry said digital forensic analysis of the seized equipment is currently underway.

The ministry emphasized that purchasing a book confers only ownership of the physical copy, with copyright remaining with the original author and publisher. It noted that operating a scanning service for commercial gain clearly falls outside the scope of copying permitted for personal use under copyright law.

"We will respond firmly to acts that undermine the efforts of creators and threaten the publishing ecosystem," said Kim Jae-hyun, director-general of the Copyright Policy Bureau of the Culture Ministry. "We will continue intensive crackdowns on illegal scanning services and the illegal sharing of academic textbooks in the second half of the year, ahead of the new university semester."

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 KO SEUNG-PYO [[email protected]]