Man fined for child pornography-related crime

By You Soo-sun

A Seoul court fined a man 5 million won ($4,469) for possession and distribution of child pornography.

The man, reportedly in his 20s, was charged on two grounds: possessing 415 images and videos portraying sexually explicit conduct of minors and distributing them through an online file-sharing program on his computer.

His case was taken up by a judge at the Seoul Western District Court who ruled: “it is unlawful to distribute or provide child pornography and to possess it while acknowledging it holds such content.”

Included in the titles of many of these files, downloaded between June 2015 and December 2016, were indications that elementary school students were involved, implying the offender had been aware of the problematic content.

The incident has led some to question whether Korean law is too soft on crimes related to child pornography. In the United States, for example, a first-time offender of the same crime would be sentenced to prison for at least five years. Even the mere possession of such material is subject to the same punishment if the offender had been aware of the materials.

The punishment in Korea is much less severe. The Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse states both “a person who sells, rents, distributes, or provides sexually explicit materials involving minors with the intention of making profit may be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison,” and “one who knowingly possesses such materials may receive a less than one-year sentence in prison or fined up to 20 million won.”