Korean Court Too Lenient on Child Pornography

The South Korean court came under fire for sentencing the operator of Welcome to Video (W2V), a dark web website of illegal videos of children, to a year and six months in prison. The sentence was much lighter than the punishment received by suspects in the U.S. and the U.K. In the U.S. and in Europe, the court will send a person to prison for downloading just one clip of illegal videos involving children, but in South Korea, the court imposes a fine, even for defendants who have downloaded such videos hundreds of times.

The law enforcement agencies of South Korea, the U.S. and the U.K. announced on October 17 that they cooperated to capture 338 users of W2V, a site that provides illegal videos of children. Among them, 223 (71.9%) were South Korean users and the operator of the site was also a Korean named Son (23). W2V is the world's largest site on the dark web providing illegal videos of children with over 1.2 million users. The dark web is part of the Internet that can only be accessed through certain programs.

Richard Gratkowski (40) from Texas was sentenced to serve 70 months in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $35,000 in restitution to seven victims for downloading a video one time and logging on once to W2V. Kyle Fox (26) of the United Kingdom was sentenced to 22 years in prison for producing an illegal video showing the rape of a five-year-old child and releasing it on W2V. This day, the U.S. Justice Department released the real names, addresses and ages of all nationals and foreigners caught.

However, the South Korean court was lenient on sentences even for the distribution of child pornography. In September 2018, Judge Choi Mi-bok of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Son, the operator of W2V to two years in prison with a three-year suspension of the sentence in the first trial. The judge said, "The harm to society by sexually distorting the perceptions of children and teenagers is great," but explained the grounds for the sentence saying, "Son is young. He acknowledged his crime and has reflected on his wrongdoing." In the second trial, Criminal Appellate Division 1 (Chief Judge Yi Seong-bok) of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Son to a year and six months in prison and said, "The sentence in the first trial was too light and unjust."

A person will be punished for violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses, even if he downloads child pornography. In South Korea, viewers of illicit videos of children are generally given light sentences, such as a suspended sentence or a fine. In November 2018, Judge Son Yun-gyeong of the Bucheon Branch of the Incheon District Court sentenced A to four months in prison with a two-year suspension of the sentence for downloading 1,080 clips of child pornography from the Darknet from August 2016 to March 2018. The judge said, "It can cause serious social harm, so it calls for severe punishment," but at the same time claimed to have "considered equity with defendants of similar cases." In January, Judge Kim Guk-sik of the Seoul Southern District Court ordered B to pay a fine of three million won for downloading child pornography 968 times from the dark web from May 2017 to February 2018. The judge ruled that the court "took into consideration the fact that it was a first time offense and that the defendant was sorry for what he had done."

On social media, people poured out their criticism after hearing of the arrest of W2V users. They said, "I would like to see the court ruling to see how the operator could get off with a year and six months in prison," "I wish all the Koreans arrested could be tried in the U.S. and be sent to U.S. prisons," and "If pedophiles knew about the South Korean court rulings, they would want to immigrate to Korea."

Yi Han-gi, the secretary-general of Digital Sexual Crime Out (DSO) said, "South Korean society, which simply regards illegally filmed videos as pornography and does not take them seriously, has encouraged the sexual exploitation of children," and added, "The society will only realize that this is a serious sexual offense when the court sentences tough punishment such as imprisonment and law enforcement authorities actively cooperate in international investigations."

▶ 최신 뉴스 ▶ 두고 두고 읽는 뉴스 ▶ 인기 무료만화

©경향신문(www.khan.co.kr), 무단전재 및 재배포 금지