The government on Tuesday approved a bill to expand the nation's anti-online piracy law to encompass manga, magazines and academic texts.
The current law only applies to the illicit downloading of music and videos. But following the revision of the copyright law, which the government aims to implement by Jan. 1 next year, those found guilty of illegally accessing the newly added materials will face the same criminal charges.
The new bill includes some exceptions that allow downloading of copyrighted content after earlier-proposed changes drew fire.