China Steals 'Tanaka' Song After IU

Re-registered as Adaptations in 2021
IU's "Morning Tears" and god's "Road" Among the Victims

Search results within Chinese music streaming sites. Kim Kyungwook SNS

Comedian Kim Kyungwook, well-known for his alter ego character "Tanaka," has revealed that his music has been plagiarized by Chinese music streaming companies.

Kim Kyungwook recently stated on his social networking service (SNS), "Chinese music streaming companies are rearranging popular songs and newly registering them on Instagram (Meta). In this process, the original ownership of the songs is being forcibly transferred." He added, "The song 'Good Night, Miss,' which I created with many people over the past two years, has been newly registered as a Chinese song. I am currently communicating with the distributor to find a solution."

Currently, "Good Night, Miss" has been newly registered on Instagram as the Chinese song "Wan'an Daxiaojie" (豌安大小姐).

This is not the first time Chinese companies have committed copyright infringement. In 2021, Chinese record labels re-registered Korean songs as adaptations.

During this process, songs such as IU's "Morning Tears," god's "Road," and Brown Eyes' "Already One Year" suffered copyright infringement, and a portion of the music revenue was even distributed to Chinese companies.

Seo Kyungduk, a professor at Sungshin Women's University, criticized, "Even if there are differences in the copyright registration systems between Korea and China, remaking copyrighted works without the original creator's approval is outright theft." He especially emphasized, "For K-pop to become even more widely known around the world, our government ministries need to respond proactively to prevent such incidents from recurring."