Possession or Viewing of Sexual Exploitation Videos Will Be Punished

From the 25th of next month... Park Joobin and his group from the Doctor's Room excluded from revised law application

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] From the 25th of next month, possession or even just viewing of sexually exploitative videos will be punishable. Most of the government measures to significantly strengthen the punishment for digital sex crimes, prompted by the Telegram Nth Room incident, have been legislated, but the revised law does not apply to Jo Joo-bin (24), the operator of the Doctor's Room, and his accomplices.

According to the National Assembly and judicial authorities on the 6th, the 'Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes (Special Act on Sexual Violence Punishment)' passed by the National Assembly plenary session on the 29th of last month stipulates that possession, purchase, storage, or viewing of illegal sexual recordings shall be punishable by imprisonment of up to 3 years or a fine of up to 30 million won. Additionally, using illegal recordings that induce sexual desire or shame to threaten or coerce is punishable by imprisonment of at least 1 year or 3 years respectively, and a new penalty of imprisonment of up to 3 years has been established for those who conspire in advance for special robbery and rape. This content allows punishment of not only Jo and the Nth Room operators' sexual exploitation but also all participants.

This amendment is one of the so-called 'Nth Room Recurrence Prevention Three Acts (Special Act on Sexual Violence Punishment, Criminal Act, Child and Youth Protection Act)' and will be enforced from the day the government announces it after the State Council meeting, but the provision banning viewing of obscene materials exceptionally has a supplementary provision stating it will be enforced from the 25th of next month.

The amendment also punishes the act of distributing images directly filmed by victims themselves, like the Nth Room victims, against their will with imprisonment of up to 7 years or a fine of up to 50 million won.

In particular, if distribution against the subject's will is done for profit, the previous maximum statutory penalty of up to 7 years imprisonment has been significantly strengthened to imprisonment of at least 3 years. The amendment also includes provisions for 1.5 times heavier punishment for habitual digital sex crimes based on the revised maximum penalty.

The concurrently passed amendment to the Criminal Act raised the age of statutory rape from the current 13 to 16 years, and the Child and Youth Protection Act defines minors involved in prostitution as 'victims.' Especially, sexual crimes against disabled children or youth are subject to aggravated punishment, and the statute of limitations for sexual assault or molestation of minors has been abolished.

However, since the revised law does not apply retroactively to criminal offenses, the main perpetrators of the Doctor's Room can avoid the new law.

Song Ki-heon, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, said, "The Criminal Act punishes based on the time of the criminal act, so those involved in the Doctor's Room who have already been detained will not be subject to the revised law."