hankyoreh

South Korea's three major broadcasters said Friday they have called for YouTube's local unit to tackle unauthorized uploads of their TV programs.

The demand over intellectual property rights is the first of its kind in South Korea since YouTube, the world's most popular video-sharing Web site owned by Google Inc., launched a Korean-language version of its service in January.

South Korean broadcasters, including the state-run Korea Broadcasting System, sent a joint letter of protest to YouTube's subsidiary in Seoul, demanding the company stop allowing uploads of copyrighted video content.

"YouTube Korea's service has significantly infringed on the protected contents of the three broadcasters," the broadcasters said in a statement.

The broadcasters expect "YouTube to comply with local laws on intellectual property rights," according to the statement.

Unless YouTube takes aggressive action against the unauthorized uploads, the broadcasters will take legal measures, the statement said.

The two other broadcasters are Munhwa Broadcasting Corp. and Seoul Broadcasting System.

Public relations officials at YouTube's Korean unit weren't immediately available for comment.

South Korea is one of the world's most wired nations, with more than two-thirds of its homes connected to broadband Internet.
SEOUL Yonhap