China, Netflix Piracy Controversy… Criticism from Seo Kyung-duk on Zhangjiajie Promotion

The city of Zhangjiajie in China has sparked controversy by sending invitations to the production team and actors of the Netflix series "Crash Course in Romance."

When the scene appeared in the drama where the middle-aged Ae-soon (played by Moon So-ri) tells Gang-sik (played by Park Hae-jin), "Let's go to Zhangjiajie to see the autumn leaves next year," the Zhangjiajie authorities cited this line and launched a promotion saying, "Thank you for mentioning Zhangjiajie in the drama. You don't have to wait for autumn; start your journey right now."

In response, Seo Kyung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, pointed out that Netflix is not officially available in China and criticized that this admission acknowledges that "Crash Course in Romance" is being watched illegally in China.

He added, "There was also an issue of illegal viewing in China during the recent release of 'Squid Game' Season 2" and stated, "Such behavior has become normalized in China."

Professor Seo emphasized that it is a significant problem for Chinese local governments to use pirated videos as a means of international promotion.

He asserted, "Above all, our government needs to step up," arguing, "We must not tolerate China's piracy any longer and should strongly protest."

Meanwhile, it is known that while Netflix does not officially operate in China, many Chinese people are watching the content through bypass methods such as VPNs.

This could lead to international issues related to copyright infringement. The South Korean government and content producers need to explore countermeasures against these illegal viewing practices.

Image source: Netflix