'Catch 'Newtoki''.. Webtoon Industry, Massive Protest to Japanese Government.. Why?

[Financial News] The Korea Cartoonists Association and the Korea Webtoon Authors Association announced on the 23rd that they would start a petition campaign urging the extradition of the operator of the illegal webtoon site 'Newtoki', who resides in Japan. 
The associations are demanding that the "Japanese government is turning a blind eye to illegal activities" and are calling for the immediate arrest of the 'Newtoki' operator and cooperation in extradition procedures. 
The 'Newtoki' operator is known to have renounced Korean nationality and is residing in Japan. Currently, they are operating several illegal sites, including △Webtoon (Newtoki) △Webnovel (Booktoki) △Japanese Manga (Manatoki), generating astronomical criminal profits.
According to the associations, as of last August, the cumulative number of visits to six major illegal distribution sites in Korea was 260 million. The site views reached 2.25 billion, and the unique visitor count was 12.2 million.
Among them, the 'Newtoki' site views were 1.15 billion, accounting for half of all illegal distribution sites. The estimated damage amount is about 39.8 billion won. The associations will hold a press conference in front of the Japanese Embassy in Korea on November 11.
At the conference, they will demand △Immediate arrest of the 'Newtoki' operator △Cooperation in swift extradition procedures △Seizure of servers and advertising assets in Japan △Encouragement of complaints by Japanese content companies, among four other points.
Shin Il-sook, president of the Korea Cartoonists Association, said, "We have mobilized all possible means to confront the reality where the world-renowned cultural asset K-Webtoon is being stolen by criminals," adding, "Webtoon authors will not remain silent until the Japanese government responds."



rsunjun@fnnews.com Yuseonjun Reporter