{
  "id": 6223824,
  "title": "Korea, Thailand team up to bust digital pirates",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/korea-thailand-team-up-to-bust-digital-pirates-6223824",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-09-08T03:42:03.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Korea Times",
    "slug": "the-korea-times-koreatimes",
    "url": "https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/southkorea/law-crime/20260908/korea-thailand-team-up-to-bust-digital-pirates"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In a residential area of Chiang Mai, Thailand, a digital piracy operation was quietly undermining South Korea's entertainment sector. Over a decade, a complex network based in Thailand and Malaysia was stealing live broadcasts of Korean TV shows, K-pop music, and popular dramas, then distributing these illegally to viewers in Southeast Asia. The scale of the damage was estimated at more than 35 billion won (approximately $26 million) when authorities finally intervened. To combat such operations, Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism joined forces with the Central Investigation Bureau of the Royal Thai Police on Tuesday. This agreement created formal lines of communication for exchanging real-time intelligence, conducting synchronous raids, and enforcing laws across borders. The partnership followed a massive international operation in February, during which Korean and Southeast Asian law enforcement worked together to dismantle a similar piracy ring.",
  "summary": "In a quiet residential neighborhood in Chiang Mai, Thailand, behind closed doors and high-speed internet connections, an illicit digital pipeline was quietly siphoning millions of dollars away from Korea’s entertainment industry. For nearly a decade, a sophisticated piracy ring operated out of Thailand and Malaysia, hijacking live feeds of Korean television networks, K-pop broadcasts, and…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "The Korea Times",
        "title": "Korea, Thailand team up to bust digital pirates",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/korea-thailand-team-up-to-bust-digital-pirates",
        "published": "2026-09-08T02:37:03.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}