South Korea to crackdown illegal sports streaming and gambling

South Korea is taking a decisive step against illegal sports streaming, gambling and digital sex crimes. The local government announced Monday its plans to establish a new task force, dedicated to combatting those recurring issues and protecting the public.

Countries across Asia continue to face challenges in addressing illegal gambling, money laundering and related crimes. While law enforcement agencies often collaborate on an international level, bad actors easily set up new operations, making the eradication of certain criminal activities difficult. Despite potential challenges, South Korea plans to continue the crackdown on illegal gambling by targeting illegal sports broadcasting websites. This will be the primary objective of a new task force, the creation of which was ordered by Cheong Wa Dan, also known as the Blue House, or the executive office and residence of the President of South Korea. As announced by Chosun Biz, the creation of the new task force was announced by the President’s Chief of Staff, Kang Hoon-sik, who chaired a meeting earlier this week. At the meeting, Hoon-sik notified the Blue House’s Office of the Chief of Civil Affairs, Social Affairs, Public Relations Communications and AI Future Planning to form a new task force that will propose and take concrete actions against illegal sports streaming websites and the distribution of digital sex crimes.

The ultimate goal of the new task force will be to protect the public. During the recent meeting, Hoon-sik explained that South Korea can no longer protect the people with patchwork prescriptions. Instead, he argued that an innovative, far-reaching and solid approach needs to be taken to address crimes such as the distribution of digital sex materials and illegal sports broadcasting websites. Hoon-sik said: Illegal sports broadcasting websites are using free viewing as bait to lure users into illegal gambling, and there were more than 20,000 reports of illegal sports gambling in 2024 alone. He warned that despite the authorities blocking digital sex crimes content, more than 70% was still accessible through third parties. Finally, Hoon-sik warned that the number of victims of digital sex crime distribution and illegal sports broadcasting websites continues to grow.