The 79-year-old actor who won a Golden Glove for his role as Oh II-nam on the hit Netflix show has been handed a suspended prison sentence

South Korean actor O Yeong-su, who starred in the first season of the hit Netflix series Squid Game, was convicted on Friday on charges of sexual harassment and handed a suspended prison sentence, a court official said.

The Seongnam branch of the Suwon district court sentenced O to eight months in prison, suspended for two years, as well as 40 hours of attendance at a sexual violence treatment programme, the court official said by telephone.

Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html .

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Almost 12,000 doctors have walked out over planned changes, as the country’s health ministry denies services have descended into chaos

South Korea’s government has started taking steps to suspend the medical licences of thousands of striking doctors , as concern grows that the month-long dispute is affecting frontline health care services.

The walkout by almost 12,000 doctors from 100 teaching hospitals has led to surgery cancellations, longer waiting times and delays in treatment, including for patients seeking emergency care, according to media reports.

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From K-pop to K-beauty, via film and fashion, South Korea is punching way above its weight. The boyband BTS alone rakes in billions every year. Are there lessons for other countries?

How does this sound for a leisurely day of cultural immersion? Ablutions completed, apply a moisturising face mask infused with snail secretion against an audio backdrop of girl group Blackpink . For lunch, a bowl of bibimbap and a Bong Joon-ho film. In the evening, binge-watch zombie series All of Us Are Dead over spicy yangnyeom chicken and a bottle of strawberry soju . All this without setting foot inside their country of origin.

Not even the fact that the all-conquering boyband BTS have been called up for military service can dampen the global appetite for all things South Korean. K-pop now regularly tops the US and UK charts. Three years after Squid Game became Netflix’s most-watched show ever, four years after Bong’s Parasite became the first non-English language film to win the best picture Oscar, with K-pop girl group Twice at No 1 on the US album chart, the Korean content juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down.

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The walkout by 8,400 doctors is in protest at government plans to raise the number of trainee medics

South Korea has raised its public health alert to “severe” for the first time, after thousands of doctors went on strike to protest against government recruitment plans, in a dispute that shows no sign of resolution.

The walkout by 8,400 doctors had started to impact medical services, with major general hospitals forced to cancel up to 50% of operations and turn away patients seeking emergency care, according to the Yonhap news agency.

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Lawsuits filed in the United States targeting pirate sites usually focus on breaches of copyright law, typically direct and secondary infringement, or violations of the DMCA, depending on individual circumstances.

Allegations of copyright infringement also featured in a complaint filed at an Arizona court in 2023, which hoped to quickly shut down a popular pirate site. Somewhat unusually, however, federal trademark infringement and cybersquatting allegations also played a key role, alongside other claims including unfair competition.

Complaint Targets Kokoa TV

Plaintiff Wavve Americas Inc. (wA) describes itself as a joint partnership between SK Telecom and the top three Korean Broadcast Networks –KBS, MBC, and SBS. According to the company’s website, wA’s mission is to use its open video streaming platform Kocowa ( Ko rean Co ntent Wa ve) to generate value for its content partners while providing an exceptional user experience.

The company’s complaint filed last year targeted the unknown domain registrant of kokoatv.net, kokoa.tv, and vidground.com. All three domains were registered at Namecheap which requires registrants to consent to personal jurisdiction in Arizona when in dispute with a third party.

The complaint alleged that Kokoa TV provided access to Korean-based TV shows and movies, including those exclusively licensed to wA for distribution in the United States. The site targeted both Korean and English-speaking audiences, the complaint added, with video content sourced from platforms including vidground.com.

Trading Off Kocowa’s Goodwill (and its content)

Kokoa TV’s choice of branding was called out for its similarity to the plaintiffs’ service Kocowa, for which they hold a trademark. The aim, the complaint added, was to trade off the goodwill of Kocowa while cybersquatting a deliberately similar domain, to confuse users into believing that the defendant’s platform had links to the official service.

Once presented with official content without having to pay for any of it, users of the unlicensed service Kokoa would be deterred from using the official platform offered by the plaintiffs, the complaint added.

Kocowa holds an exclusive license to distribute around 1,100 shows in the United States, content created by the three major Korean networks. The sites operated by the defendant offered that content for free, leading to allegations of copyright infringement and contributory copyright infringement.

All three domains had their ownership hidden by a WHOIS protection service so when Namecheap refused to disable the domains or hand over the identity of the domains’ operator, Wavve Americas Inc. filed its complaint.

The company demanded a permanent injunction, an award sufficient to cover the costs of corrective advertising, an award of Kokoa’s profits, the transfer of its domain names, damages for both trademark and copyright infringement, plus attorneys’ fees and costs.

Plaintiff Prevails

Discovery directed at Namecheap revealed the same name behind all three domains – Tumi Max of Bangkok, Thailand – who was named in the plaintiff’s first amended complaint. The defendant was served September 22, 2023, but after failing to appear, the court’s entry of default was followed by a motion for default judgment.

Judge Michael T. Liburdi handed down his order on February 6, 2024. Since the defendant had accepted Namecheap’s terms and conditions, the Judge found that personal jurisdiction had been established. Since the websites were accessible in the district and likely to cause confusion there, venue was considered proper.

Since Tubi Max decided not to appear, he failed to produce rebuttal evidence related to the distribution of the plaintiff’s content. While the Judge found Kocowa a “conceptually strong mark” he noted that the complaint failed to demonstrate it was a “commercially strong” mark. However, after weighing several factors including the defendants’ absence, the broadcasters prevailed on their trademark, cybersquatting, and copyright infringement claims.

A permanent injunction followed soon after, comprehensively restraining Tubi Max from unlawful use of the plaintiff’s trademarks (image below) and any unlicensed use of its copyrighted works. It appears that the focus of the complaint was to shut the site down since the injunction notes that “wA does not seek monetary damages.”

As the above shows, Namecheap was instructed to hand over the domains to prevent any further infringement of the plaintiff’s rights. Visitors to those domains today will find themselves redirected to the plaintiff’s streaming platform where they will be able to compensate the rightful owners when consuming their copyrighted content.

In theory, at least.

The complaint and other filings cited above are available here

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.

Ryu Ji-hwan and his friends hope to soon land corporate jobs but worry about what’s next and making the right choices

• 24 in 2024: read the full series from the Guardian

Twenty-four in 2024 is a series on the lives, hopes and fears of 24-year-olds around the world in a year of election uncertainty, conflict and climate change.

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In 1997, after moving to the South Korean countryside from Seoul, artist Lee Me Kyeoung came across a “beautifully dilapidated” old convenience store in her neighbourhood and was compelled to paint it. The two months it took her to complete the drawing, using ink pens, was such a “joyful experience” that she decided to seek out more. “These small, old mom-and-pop stores were more than just places to buy goods, they were essential to the community,” she says, but they were disappearing as shopping habits in Korea changed. Me Kyeoung’s drawings – she has committed about 500 stores to paper over 26 years, along with cherry blossoms and other trees that flourished over many of them – are a record of a slower, more community-centred way of life that is passing into memory.

• See more at instagram.com/lee_me_kyeoung

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Parts of country will have to endure highs of more than 40C, while South Korea and Japan told to expect snow

Last week Western Australia underwent a brief heatwave. Perth, the capital city, reached 41.9C (107.4F) on Wednesday, 42.7C on Thursday and 40.4C on Friday. While it is summertime in Australia, three consecutive days with temperatures in excess of 40C marks a considerable deviation from the seasonal average which sits at about 31.5C.

Temperatures then returned much closer to the seasonal average throughout the weekend, with maximums in the mid to high 20s. However, over the coming days, the heat is expected to return, with temperatures in excess of 40C expected to persist from Thursday to Saturday, before easing again on Sunday. Furthermore, it is not just the maximum temperatures that can cause discomfort, but also the minimum, which, over the course of the second heatwave, will probably be about 25C, around the maximum seen over the previous weekend.

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On December 1, 2023, an interesting piece of news began to gain traction in South Korea and beyond.

First published by national broadcaster KBS, the report claimed that after five years of tracking, major webtoon publisher Kakao Entertainment had “identified the operator of ‘M’, the world’s largest illegal comics and webtoon distribution site.”

Big (Conflicting) Claims

This claim piqued our interest. Half a decade of tracking is significant and tends to suggest an important target. But after all that time, why give a heads-up in the media to the operator of the largest site of its type in the world?

Since it’s relatively easy to identify the world’s largest sites operating in that sector, why go on to mysteriously refer to the platform only as ‘M’? The answer to that question may lie in the fact that several of the largest sites have names beginning with that letter. However, taking such claims at face value isn’t always advised.

In the fourth paragraph of the article, a comment from Kakao Entertainment further muddied the waters. In a pretty sizeable shift away from the original claim, that the operator of ‘M’ had been identified, Kakao stated (emphasis ours):

“ If we identify the operator, we will be able to take civil and criminal action against each individual for violating copyright law, which will likely lead to a more fundamental solution to the problem of illegal distribution.”

Confidence vs. Confusion

In his book The Art of War, Sun Tzu wrote that the whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so real intent cannot be fathomed. If that was the plan, it certainly worked here. Meanwhile, other publications seemed much more confident.

“World’s Biggest Manga and Webtoon Piracy Site Likely to Be Shut Down,” wrote CBR , “The Top Manga and Webtoon Piracy Site May Be Closed Soon,” ComicBook added .

On December 19, 2023, South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the culmination of a major online piracy investigation and a significant arrest.

With Assistance from U.S. Homeland Security, “Site Shut Down”

The press release issued by the Ministry of Culture immediately scaled down the nature of the target. The world’s largest illegal comics and webtoon site was now being described as the largest site of its type in Korea. That doesn’t diminish the importance of the site locally but does set it apart from other sites with up to 60 million visits per month more.

After naming the site for the first time, the statement reveals that the operator of ‘Shelter’ was arrested following cooperation between the Ministry of Culture’s Copyright Crime and Scientific Investigation Unit, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in the United States, and the Korea Copyright Protection Agency.

“The operator of the ‘shelter’ site, which was visited by about 21.7 million people (according to SimilarWeb) in ’23, was provisionally found to have earned about 340 million won [$35 million] in advertising revenue,” the statement notes, adding that the platform illegally shared almost 27,000 titles causing “significant damage” to the publishing industry.

“The site was located overseas, which made it difficult to investigate the operator, but through active international cooperation and collaboration with the U.S. Homeland Security Investigation Agency, we were able to identify access from a specific space in Korea, and based on this, we were able to identify and arrest the operator of the ‘Shelter’ site.”

Images of the Raid Spread Online

Information released by the authorities provides no personal detail on the alleged operator of Shelter, so age and arrest location can’t be reported at this time. However, images of the raid distributed by the Ministry of Culture appear to show where Shelter was operated from.

The contrast between $35 million in advertising revenue and the hardware on display has been a topic of discussion since the raid, and probably best summed up by the comment , “The shelter operator lives more frugally than I thought.”

While the name ‘Shelter’ is now being mentioned openly, its full name and online location aren’t part of the information released to the public. That may be due to the platform remaining online, subject to limitations presumably put in place by the site’s operator.

1412.live / 1412.rest

While there’s a likelihood that other domains exist, Shelter operates from 1412.live. The authorities claim that the site marketed itself as a comic review platform but was really a pirate-linking site in disguise.

As far as we can determine, users of the site posted links to comics hosted on third-party file-hosting platforms for other users to download via the site.

Visitors to the platform are currently greeted with a popup notice in Korean, translated as follows;

Hello. I am very sorry to leave you with bad news.

Regarding the link posted on the book information bulletin board on December 5th. A crackdown was carried out by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

As previously announced, the book information bulletin board is closed and can no longer be used. In addition, we would like to inform you that all posts and comments related to sharing or requesting novels or posting download links are strictly prohibited and subject to sanctions.

We would like to apologize to the rights holders who suffered damage.

A browse around the platform reveals several items of interest. Not only does Shelter have many rules that can result in suspension, it also has a section containing a list of rightsholders who have complained about content being shared without permission. Linked from the frontpage under the title “ Protection List ‘, the list is actually hosted at Notion.

The text is in Korean but when translated, reads as follows:

Sharing pirated files by uploading them directly to an external server or cloud is prohibited by international copyright conventions.

The operation team is unable to verify direct infringement of URLs that link to third-party external websites, but if direct infringement is confirmed, posts may be deactivated and penalty measures may be taken without notice.

For registration restriction request procedures, please refer to the Posting Takedown and Rights Protection document.

Traffic data obtained from various sources broadly supports the 21.7 million visits per year claimed by the authorities. For the site’s main domain, 1412.live, SimilarWeb currently reports 1.4 million visits per month and SEMRush reports 4.3 million over three months. However, traffic appears to have diminished in the last few months of the year, so more recent figures may not be especially informative.

With some of the largest manga sites currently enjoying between 50 and upwards of 80 million visits per month, Shelter was nowhere near the largest.

On a local basis, there’s no question it was significant, just not as significant globally as people were initially led to believe, or named in the manner that was implied either. Whether the site’s operator made $35 million from advertising remains a question, at least in light of the frugal hardware on display.

From: TF , for the latest news on copyright battles, piracy and more.