[Sportschosun | Reporter Baek Ji-eun] BTS has once again suffered losses from illegal sales in China.
According to Kyoungduk Seo, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, the BTS single ‘Swim’ has recently been sold illegally on Temu, a major Chinese online shopping mall. The ‘Swim’ single is supposed to be sold only through official retailers such as Weverse Shop. Temu’s exposure of illegally sold products could therefore become a serious issue, even if the platform claims that it merely provides a marketplace.
This is not the first time BTS has suffered losses because of China.
In 2023, tens of thousands of clothing items, miscellaneous goods and photocards bearing unauthorized BTS trademarks were discovered. During the group’s comeback in Gwanghwamun this March, products that illegally used the BTS members’ likenesses, as well as the Arirang logo and designs, were distributed in large quantities through major Chinese shopping malls such as AliExpress and Taobao, sparking major controversy. There have also been crimes involving the unauthorized scanning of BTS’s official photobooks and album packages for resale as illegal merchandise packages, as well as the copying of HYBE’s official seal to deceive buyers into believing the products were genuine.
BTS is not the only group affected. Numerous K-pop artists, including Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together (TXT) and NewJeans, have suffered from illegal merchandise. There have also been countless cases in which artists’ music copyrights were stolen.
The problem extends beyond K-pop. Entertainment formats from tvN’s ‘Youn’s Kitchen,’ Mnet’s ‘Show Me The Money’ and JTBC’s ‘Hyori’s Homestay’ have been illegally copied, while globally successful works such as ‘Squid Game,’ ‘The Glory’ and ‘Extraordinary Attorney Woo’ have been distributed through illegal streaming sites.
These illegal activities have been criticized as a serious problem that not only infringes on the legitimate copyright revenue of Korean artists and production companies but also damages their brand value. Calls for continued legal action and sanctions at the global-platform level have continued.
Professor Kyoungduk Seo lashed out, saying, "This has to stop now. Selling other people’s content illegally to make a profit must end immediately."
Reporter Baek Ji-eun silk781220@sportschosun.com
This article has been translated by GripLabs Mingo AI.
