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By Kim Jae-heun
Pan-government efforts are being made to crack down on online sharing of illegally produced or uploaded sexual content.
Relevant ministries and state organizations, led by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, are devising measures to strictly control and punish the prolific online sex crimes across the country.
They believe the most serious problem with online sex crimes these days is that file-sharing websites have become the main distribution channel of illegal photos and videos, such as revenge porn and voyeur videos, and operators of these sites are abetting or even colluding in their distribution.
The Ministry of Justice will strengthen punishment for online platform operators that are involved in the distribution of such content, and claim any related profits.
A new law, which was passed in September, also enables the government to claim from the distributor the expenses spent for deleting obscene materials online.
The National Police Agency (NPA) has received reports from civic groups and the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) about file-sharing websites where such content is shared and investigated them. From June to October, the police shut down three sites and apprehended their managers.
From the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the police also received a list of people who uploaded a hefty amount of such clips, nearly 300 IDs, and are investigating them.
The KCSC also intensively monitored file-sharing websites. For only 50 days since the end of May, it found 4,584 cases of distribution of illegally made or distributed sexual images or videos and removed them.
The Ministry of Science and ICT is developing artificial intelligence and big data technology to block access to such illegal content, with a goal to complete the development by the end of 2019.
Such technology will detect pornographic images, sounds or videos online and block them from appearing or playing while stopping the uploading process when someone tries to post the content online in real time.
Meanwhile, the gender equality ministry is urging the National Assembly to pass five related bills regarding online sex crimes.
According to the bills, those spreading sexual content, in which the victims can be identified, will received only prison terms with no fines. The bills will also oblige website operators to take necessary measures to prevent distribution of obscene materials, such as removing such materials or banning access to them, and those who do not follow the rule will be fined up to 20 million won.
"The government will try best to eradicate illegally made or distributed sexual content. It will also make sure the National Assembly will pass the bills as soon as possible," a ministry official said.
