Popular webtoon Wind Breaker has officially been discontinued from Naver Webtoon after allegations of tracing were confirmed by the platform and acknowledged by the creator, Jo Yongseok.
The long-running series came to an abrupt end this week, with the final chapter uploaded outside the platform on the artist’s personal blog.
Naver Webtoon released a public statement confirming that portions of Wind Breaker bore clear similarities in composition and direction to other existing works. Following internal discussions with the creator, the company decided to discontinue both the serialization and distribution of the title.
Hello, this is Naver Webtoon.
Recently, similarities in composition and directing between the manuscript of the Monday webtoon Wind Breaker and other works were confirmed.
As a result of discussions between the author and the editorial team, we have decided to suspend the serialization and service of the work.
We sincerely apologize for the disappointment this has caused readers and many others.
Naver Webtoon takes the issue of content similarity very seriously and will continue to make every effort to protect copyright in the future.
— Naver Webtoon
Jo Yongseok also issued an apology, acknowledging the use of traced or closely referenced material in his work. He cited the pressure of weekly deadlines and personal impatience as reasons for compromising creative standards.
In a gesture to long-time fans, the creator shared the webtoon’s final manuscript on his personal blog.
Hello, this is Jo Yongseok.
First, I sincerely apologize for causing concern to many people regarding the recent allegations of tracing in my work.
Some of the reference materials I used in my work included scenes that were similar or nearly identical to other works. This was clearly my fault.
Over the long years, as I continued the exhausting cycle of weekly deadlines, I became impatient and failed to uphold the standards that I should have maintained as a creator.
More than anything, I truly wanted to show the ending of this work, but making the decision to end it prematurely is incredibly painful. I am deeply sorry to the readers and again, I sincerely apologize.
I am truly grateful to the readers who supported me despite my shortcomings, and I bow my head in apology once again.
Thinking that I should at least offer a minimal conclusion, I have uploaded the final part of Wind Breaker on my personal blog as a manuscript.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Jo Yongseok launched Wind Breaker on Naver Corporation’s webtoon platform, Naver Webtoon, in December 2013. Its chapters have been collected and published into 25 volumes.
Source: Naver
