Confusion on child porn

By Kim Bo-eun

People who download videos or animation containing indecent images of minors could find themselves facing criminal charges under recently revised laws.

The prosecution’s indictment of five people last month for possessing child pornography files has thrown the nation into confusion and caused a huge online debate.

It was the first judicial action taken after the revised Youth Sex Protection Law became effective in March. The law states that even if a person deletes a file right after viewing it, he or she will be guilty of owning such material.

The crackdown on pornographic images of people who appear to be under 18 is aimed at catching pedophiles because the government believes child pornography is behind the growing number of sex crimes against children.

It’s true that actual pedophiles exist and it’s natural for the legal authorities to take steps to bring them to justice.

But the catch is that the law and ensuing crackdown could cause confusion and suffering for many who are not pedophiles. A controversial part of the law is that it stipulates that owning images even implying sex with minors, even if it does not actually feature children, can be regarded as a criminal offense.

This has led to online confusion that Japanese animation such as “Sailor Moon” that features girls dressed in school uniforms could also be subject to the censorship.

Apart from the debate on whether viewing obscene material actually corrupts people’s minds and causes them to commit crimes, the more fundamental question of the law is what exactly qualifies something as child pornography.

People are also raising concerns about the fact nobody really knew about the revised law which remained in the dark until the indictment. But the reaction from most men is, “I’m just an ordinary guy that occasionally enjoys watching pornography. Why does that make me a criminal?”