As “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” is being watched illegally in China, professor Seo Kyung-deok, “The China authorities should step up”
“Chinese netizens have been watching K-drama illegally and posting reviews despite not having Netflix… The China authorities should do something”
With ENA’s drama “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” topping Netflix’s non-English TV Show category for two consecutive weeks, professor Seo Kyung-deok of Sungshin Women’s University said, “Now the Chinese authorities should step up and keep an eye on it”.
Released on the 29th of last month, “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, which tells the story of lawyer Woo Young-woo with autism spectrum disorder solving various cases in her own way, is gaining huge popularity.
Professor Seo made a post on his SNS on July 21st, saying “‘Thief viewers’ are so ridiculous. They are giving points to the drama among themselves on Douban – China’s largest content review site, and the number of reviews on the drama has already exceeded 20,000”
Chinese media site Sina also reported the unusual popularity of “Extraordinary Attorney Woo”, saying that a fan account created by a netizen has gained 30,000 followers who are watching the drama.
Professor Seo pointed out, “This situation can be summarized as ‘They are doing everything while watching the drama secretly”.
He also stressed that this was not the first time Korean content was distributed illegally in China. In China, illegal downloads of dramas, such as “Squid Game” and “Hellbound”, were prevalent last year although Netflix has not been serviced in this country yet.
Regarding the situation where domestic and foreign online video service (OTT) companies use private monitoring systems as a solution but it is still difficult to crack down on the illegal distribution of drama content in China, professor Seo raised his voice, saying “It’s time for the Chinese authorities to step up”.
It is because the Chinese authorities have conducted a strict crackdown on the Olympic mascot “Bing Dwen Dwen” during the Beijing Winter Olympics in February to protect intellectual property rights and prevent illegal distribution.
Professor Seo said, “It’s not that the Chinese authorities do not know anything. They definitely know but haven’t done anything yet”, adding “China must learn how to respect other countries’ cultures first and show it through action.”
Source: dispatch
