Naver Webtoon's 'Wind Breaker' joins growing list of plagiarism cancellations

Korea Herald

a day ago

Popular series removed from platform after tracing allegations, highlighting systemic challenges in South Korea's digital comics market
A decadelong franchise came to an abrupt end last week when Naver Webtoon pulled one of its most popular series from the platform after plagiarism allegations were confirmed.
"Wind Breaker," a sports webtoon about a high schooler who discovers his passion for competitive cycling, had amassed over 600 million views since its 2013 debut. Created by Jo Yong-seok, the series followed protagonist Jo "Jay" Ja-Hyun as he broke into amateur racing circuits and built friendships through a cycling team.
Controversy erupted on June 30 when readers noticed similarities between episode 176 and panels from the Japanese manga "Tokyo Ghoul." Side-by-side comparisons of the illustrations that show nearly identical compositions and character poses spread rapidly online.
The artist made changes to the disputed artwork without any public acknowledgment.
Throughout early July, users uncovered more instances of apparent copying from various Japanese manga and fan art. Each discovery prompted silent edits to the webtoon, which drew further criticism from fans who saw the unannounced changes as dishonest.
On Friday, both Jo and Naver Webtoon issued statements acknowledging the allegations. "Among the reference materials I used during production, some scenes ended up being very similar to — or nearly identical in expression to — those from other works," Jo wrote in Korean. "This is clearly my fault."
Jo posted the story's draft ending on his blog before the work was permanently removed from Naver's platform Saturday.
A pattern in the industry
Tracing represents one of the most blatant forms of plagiarism in the comics industry. It involves copying the exact composition, poses and angles from existing work — often by literally drawing over the original or reproducing it nearly identically.
"Wind Breaker" adds to a growing list of webtoons canceled mid-publication over plagiarism. In 2018, veteran artist Kim Sung-mo's "High School Chronicle" was pulled after readers discovered traced panels from Takehiko Inoue's basketball manga "Slam Dunk."
The plagiarism problem on the platform extends beyond traced illustrations. "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" was pulled in 2021 after accusations of imitating character designs and layouts from Naoki Urasawa's "Monster" manga and the "Evangelion" anime series. In 2023, "Desperate to Date" faced cancellation over similarities in scripting and panel layouts to the popular manga "Kaguya-sama: Love is War."
Following the "Wind Breaker" fallout, a Naver Webtoon official said the platform has enforced stricter internal measures since 2023. The company conducts regular monitoring and provides educational guidelines to creators, the official added.
Gray areas
Under South Korean copyright law, tracing constitutes an act of reproduction, defined as fixing or recreating work through any method. The reproduction does not need to be identical; substantial similarity is enough to establish infringement. Unauthorized tracing for commercial purposes can violate both reproduction and transmission rights, according to guidelines published by the Culture Ministry.
What makes these cases tricky is that plagiarism remains a complaint-based offense in South Korea, as is the case in many other countries. Without the original rights holder pressing charges, these cases rarely become legal matters. This means that platforms can move on after terminating contracts and removing content.
Given the absence of legal proceedings, some in the webtoon community have downplayed the gravity of these incidents. In 2021, the artist known as "248," who creates "Iseop's Romance" for Naver Webtoon, posted in the platform's comment section defending colleagues who had faced similar accusations. While acknowledging that tracing was "unethical," the artist argued that the practice should not result in career-ending consequences, particularly given the lack of legal action from original creators.
"Comics artists should be more cautious about this issue," said an industry official who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We're in an era when viewers are paying to view work, and they have very high awareness about these issues. It's up to the artists to raise the standard."