The South Korean government has intensified its efforts to crack down on illegal file sharing sites based overseas in response to increasing copyright infringement.

In a briefing on Tuesday, the relevant agencies -- the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Communications Commission and the National Police Agency -- announced an ongoing war against online copyright infringement and investigation results.

The government formed a task force earlier in the year, which started cracking down on those sites in May.

The task force team has so far led 12 illegal sites to close or stop operating. Among them, eight site operators, including the illegal comics sharing site Bamtoki, will face legal action.

As part of the efforts, the Korea Copyright Protection Agency and the KCC have agreed to hire more officials tasked with monitoring illegal sites, as well as to expand government discussion and monitoring of the issue.

"We are making progress on censuring illegal content largely due to the relevant agencies' collaborative efforts," an official from the culture ministry said, adding that illegal sites operating overseas are no longer a grey area of copyright infringement and the government will hold them legally accountable.

The government vowed to continue cracking down on illegal file downloads until the Korean legal content market takes root to protect various kinds of cultural content, including web comics, entertainment shows and dramas. (Yonhap)