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By Lee Hae-rin
The rampant growth of illegal "scanlation": of web comics overseas is causing growing financial and psychological damage to Korean creators. Scanlation, a portmanteau of scan and translation, is a fan-fueled online posting of translated comics without the consent of the copyright holder.
Over 1,300 scanlation aggregate websites are active in more than 30 countries, according to a Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) report. They host unlicensed and amateur translations of web comics from Korea and other countries in over 40 languages and yielded 334.8 billion page views in 2020 alone.
Illegal scanlation is a universal issue for Korean web comic creators. "Almost every single webtoon made in Korea is illegally scanlated and shared online. It is every webtoon creator's frustration," says Kim Dong-hoon, the head of the Korean Webtoon Creator Union.
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| Seen is the screenshot of Mangago, the largest illegal web comic scanlation website. |
The driving force behind these pet translation projects, according to Ggang-e, a webtoon artist from Lezhin Comics, is young avid comic readers of various nationalities. They form translation groups, collaborate via the internet, and claim that Korean artists "should be flattered" for the hard work of global promotion they offer for free.
Their reasons for voluntary unlicensed distribution go on. The cost, quality, and speed of commercial releases on legal platforms fail to meet the expectation of global readership, the amateur translators argue.
However, from the artists' point of view, illegal scanlation is blatant piracy. "I was in complete shock when I found my work on an illegal foreign website two years ago. We, the webtoon creators, financially depend on readers' view counts and purchases on official platforms. There is no question that these works are artists' intellectual property. Illegal distribution, no matter how well-intended, is a threat to our living," said Junah, a webtoon artist from Lezhin Comics, in an interview with the Korea Times.
Some artists fall victim to severe cyberbullying for speaking up for their property rights. "Some illegal translators and readers bombard me with slander, abusive language, and insulting images, because I speak out against illegal scanlation on social media," says YD, another Lezhin Comics creator. She says she is not the only one in the field who has been to a mental clinic for depression treatment, due to the stress from illegal scanlation.
92 percent of Korean webtoon creators say illegal scanlations have made it difficult to work on their current comics, and over 50 percent have considered retiring their careers because of illegal translations, according to the survey provided by the union.
To bring an end to intellectual property right infringement overseas, the Korean government and Interpol initiated a three-year-long cooperative investigation in April. The investigation aims to arrest the individuals who are engaging in illegal distribution of Korean contents and to confiscate derived profits, according to Pyo Gwang-jong, an official in charge of Copyright Protection Division at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
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| Seen is the pirated comics reporting guide for international readers made by legal Korean readers / Courtesy of Korean Webtoon Creator Union |
The creators welcome the joint investigation and call for intellectual property rights awareness campaigns by the government. A group of legal readers from Korea and overseas have come together in solidarity to raise voices for the creators' rights and report illegal translations. The civilian effort, however, is not enough.
"Illegal scanlation ruins artists' lives and dreams. It harms creators, and no creator is grateful for such piracy. If we go on like this, I'm afraid the Korean webtoon market could perish someday," says Ggang-e.
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