*This content was translated by AI.
A legal foundation has been laid to solve scalping problems such as sports and performances.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Minister Choi Hwi-young) announced that a partial amendment to the Copyright Act to eradicate the illegal distribution of K-content, the Performance Act, and the National Sports Promotion Act, which prohibit the sale of scalpers in performances and sports, passed a plenary session of the National Assembly on the 29th.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, "At the time of the 2026 president's report in December last year, Minister Choi Hwi-young promised to respond quickly by defining the illegal distribution of content and ticket issues in the performance and sports industry as Korea's "two major incurable diseases of the cultural industry," adding, "Today (29th) related bills have been passed, opening the way for a full-fledged resolution of incurable diseases."
The revision of the Performance Act and the National Sports Promotion Act includes ▶ prohibition of all fraudulent purchases and fraudulent sales regardless of the use of macros (a program that automatically repeatedly inputs commands designated on the information and communication network). ▶ Mandatory business measures to prevent fraud ▶ Designation and operation of reporting agencies ▶ payment of rewards for reporting ▶ imposition of fines less than 50 times sales amount ▶ high-intensity measures for the scalping market estimated at more than 100 billion won per year, including confiscation and collection of unfair profits.
Previously, only fraudulent sales using macro programs were subject to punishment, making it difficult to technically check whether macro programs were used at the crackdown site, and various methods of fraudulent sales without macro programs were in the blind spot of regulation. This revision prohibits fraudulent purchases for resale purposes, habitual or sales of amounts exceeding the purchase price for business purposes, regardless of whether macro programs are used or not.
In addition, in order to establish a system in which the public and private sectors are responsible together by recognizing ticket sales as an overall distribution structure rather than an individual deviation, technical and administrative measures will be imposed on ticket sellers and mail order brokers to prevent fraudulent purchases and fraudulent sales.
A reporting agency will also be designated to prevent cheating. The Korea Creative Content Agency (Performance) and the Korea Professional Sports Association (Sports) have been operating ticket reporting centers, but there was a lack of manpower and budget for effective crackdowns. In addition, it was difficult to secure evidence of ticket sales without active investigation cooperation from ticket sellers, etc., making it difficult to crack down.
Accordingly, the amendment provided the basis for the designation of a reporting agency in charge of receiving and processing reports of irregularities and the support of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and specified the right of the reporting agency to submit data. Ticket sellers and mail-order brokers must comply with requests to submit data unless there is a justifiable reason, and a fine of up to 5 million won will be imposed if related data is falsely submitted or not submitted.
In addition, a public participatory monitoring system will be established by paying reporting rewards to those who report fraudulent purchases and fraudulent sales to reporting agencies or investigative agencies. Through this, it is expected that by inducing insider and user reports of illegal activities such as ticket transactions, it will be possible to more effectively detect voice transactions that had limitations only by cracking down on administrative agencies.
The revision also provided a means of sanctions to reliably recover the profits gained from illegal ticket transactions. Penalties up to 50 times or less of the sales amount for fraudulent sellers shall be imposed, and profits acquired through fraudulent purchases or fraudulent sales may be confiscated or the value may be collected. Prior to the implementation of the revised bill in the second half of this year, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will form a joint public-private consultative body to promote self-purification efforts by the industry and conduct activities to improve public awareness to eradicate ticket sales.
The revision of the "Copyrights Act" calls for ▶ improvement of the access blocking system ▶ introduction of a punitive damage compensation system ▶ strengthening criminal punishment ▶ commercial operation of sites providing links to illegal copies and the consideration of infringement of link posting.
First of all, a new "emergency blocking system" will be established that allows the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism to order network operators to block access to copyright infringement sites that require urgent action due to obvious illegality and expected damage that is difficult to recover. In particular, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has also been able to implement measures to block access to illegal sites with overseas servers, which could only be implemented by the Korea Communications Standards Commission (formerly the Korea Communications Standards Commission), opening the way for any institution to take action if caught first.
In addition, compensation was previously made mainly for the amount of damage that actually occurred in case of copyright infringement, but a punitive damage compensation system was introduced to strengthen deterrence against intentional and habitual infringement. In the case of intentional infringement of copyright rights, the court may determine the amount of compensation within a maximum of five times the amount recognized as damage. The amount of compensation is calculated in consideration of intentionality, the amount of damage, the economic benefits gained by the infringer, and the period and number of infringements.
The standard for criminal punishment for copyright infringers will also be raised from the current 'imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won' to 'imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million won'. It also provides grounds for punishment for commercially operating sites that provide links to access piracy or posting links for commercial purposes on these sites. In addition, it included the obligation to establish comprehensive measures to protect copyrights and the legal basis for related officials to enter the site to investigate or view documents to collect, dispose of or delete illegal copies.
This amendment will take effect six months after the promulgation. However, regulations on blocking access to illegal copies and emergency blocking that require urgency will be implemented early three months after the promulgation, and punitive damages regulations will apply to violations that have occurred since the enforcement of the law.
"This revision is the result of the continuous efforts to listen to the difficulties of the field over the past six months and solve them," Minister Choi Hwi-young said. "We expect it to contribute greatly to solving the illegal distribution of content and ticket problems that hinder the sustainable growth of 'K-Culture' and creating a healthy ecosystem."
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*This content was translated by AI.
