Two suspects, center and right, are in custody for allegedly running an illegal video streaming website in Vietnam in this December 2024 file photo. Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Two individuals suspected of running illegal video streaming sites in Vietnam have been apprehended, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Monday.

According to the ministry, its copyright crime investigation team, in collaboration with the National Police Agency, Interpol and the Korea Copyright Protection Agency's Vietnam office, identified the two Korean suspects in September 2024. The suspects were allegedly operating illegal streaming platforms that distributed copyrighted Korean content in Vietnam.

The investigation team apprehended one suspect at Incheon International Airport in December after being denied entry into Thailand. The other suspect voluntarily turned themselves in, leading to the arrest of both individuals.

"This is the result of the Interpol Stop Online Piracy (I-SOP) international joint investigation," the ministry said in a statement. "Through our agreement with the National Police Agency and Interpol, we are actively cracking down on copyright violations of Korean content."

Authorities found that the suspects operated illegal streaming sites, including PickleTV and TV Champ, from April 2022 to July 2024, violating the copyright of Korean content.

They were identified to have distributed 32,124 video works sourced from global streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+ and Apple TV+ and earned illegal profits of around 400 million won ($275,237) through Google advertisements, according to the ministry.

To evade law enforcement, the suspects established a company in Vietnam and hired Vietnamese nationals as developers and personnel managers. They also set up overseas servers in third countries and used a U.S. company's content delivery network service to disguise themselves as a legitimate business.

"This arrest is an example of how the increasingly sophisticated and intelligent illegal distribution of K-content can be detected through international cooperation and persistent tracking," said Jung Hyang-mi, director-general of the ministry's copyright bureau.

"We will continue to strengthen international cooperation for K-content protection, such as starting the second I-SOP project this year in collaboration with the National Police Agency and Interpol."

The Korean government has been trying to crack down on operators who illegally distribute content. Last November, the operator known to have earned hundreds of billions of won in criminal proceeds by running the illegal streaming site Noonoo TV was arrested and indicted.

Noonoo TV has been caught and shut down twice, but it has caused a huge wave by resuming service by moving servers to other countries and changing domain names.