With Cooperation, 15 Victims Identified... What Will It Take to End Lenient Sentences? [Sexual Exploitation, Out]

Truths Uncovered Through Cooperation and Collaboration
Number of Victims Rose from 2 to 15, Over 10,000 Deletion Requests Supported
65% of Child Sexual Exploitation Offenders Receive Suspended Sentences
"Stronger Punishment for Perpetrators

Editor's Note
Child and adolescent prostitution is defined as sexual exploitation. This is because it is difficult to view children and adolescents, whose sexual self-determination is immature, as capable of sexual consent or entering into contracts. Children and adolescents who quickly form close relationships online through social media, messengers, and anonymous platforms are now more easily drawn into sexual exploitation crimes than in the past. According to the Central Digital Sexual Crime Victim Support Center of the Korea Women's Human Rights Institute, one in four people (27.8%) who received support for digital sexual crimes last year were teenagers. Compared to 2023, the number of teenage victims supported by the center increased by more than 600, a 3.3 percentage point rise. Crimes of child and adolescent sexual exploitation are clear sexual abuse. This article examines whether there are ways to prevent such crimes and what concrete measures are needed, based on real-life cases.

Lee (15), who visited the counseling room at the Incheon Digital Sexual Crime Prevention and Response Center (hereafter referred to as the Incheon Center), requested help, saying that a sexual exploitation video she did not consent to was spreading on adult websites. After a tip from an acquaintance, Lee learned about the existence of the video and was trembling with fear. The man in the video was Kim (35), whom the center had been tracking for two years. "It doesn't seem like she's the only victim..." Victim support officer Yoo Hoyoon immediately recognized the man's identity. He was the same man the center had been pursuing.

Lee was not the only victim. For years, the man had uploaded videos suspected to be illegal recordings to several adult websites. Although the center had been continuously deleting these videos, another adult woman came forward before Lee visited the center, also claiming to be a victim of illegal filming by the same man.

Yoo Hoyoon, a victim support officer at the Incheon Digital Sexual Crime Prevention and Response Center, is explaining the past criminal acts based on the verdict of Kim (35), a suspect who violated the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes such as the Production and Distribution of Sexual Exploitation Materials, in a counseling room within the center on the 11th. Provided by Incheon Digital Sexual Crime Prevention and Response Center

"In 2023, the center became aware of the man's crimes, but we couldn't catch him at that time. He was wanted for about a year, but he wasn't apprehended. Then, finally, he was caught."

There were two victims in Incheon alone. Yoo's intuition that there could be more victims was confirmed on the day of the perpetrator's sentencing hearing, when she met an employee from the Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Safety Support Center at the court. Other centers had also been deleting thousands of illegal recordings made by the same man and were closely monitoring the case due to the large number of victims.

On the day of the perpetrator's sentencing hearing, Yoo expected a heavy sentence given the man's history of similar crimes. However, the prosecution's sentencing recommendation was not as severe as anticipated. At the sentencing hearing held at the 1st Criminal Division of the Anyang Branch of Suwon District Court, the prosecution sought a six-year sentence for the perpetrator, who had a prior record of similar offenses and violated the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Offenses, statutory rape of a minor, and the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. This was one year more than the minimum sentence. Under Korean law, producing, importing, or exporting child or adolescent sexual exploitation materials is punishable by at least five years in prison.

In digital sexual crime cases, sentences are often lower than the prosecution's recommendation, and sentences are frequently reduced on appeal. The sentencing guideline compliance rate for digital sexual crimes, as compiled by the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission, is 78.4%, which is lower than the average. Although the guidelines are advisory and not legally binding, most judges follow them, resulting in an average compliance rate of 90.4%.

Kim Soohyun, a full-time attorney at the Teenage Women's Human Rights Center, explained, "Of the 2,187 cases where sentencing guidelines for digital sexual crimes were applied, the rate of suspended sentences for child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials was 65.2%. Even in cases where the material was produced, the average sentence fell far short of the guidelines." She added, "Even when guidelines exist, the courts often grant leniency or mitigation. Many perpetrators are in their 20s or 30s and are just starting out in society, so the courts often give them another chance, or treat them as first-time offenders even when there are multiple victims, which leads to mitigating circumstances being considered."

The suspect Kim Mo previously committed crimes using similar methods such as illegal filming and was tried in court. All case numbers and other information that can identify individuals have been mosaicked. Photo by Lee Hyunju

Officials from organizations supporting victims expressed their frustration. The perpetrator lured women, including minors, using repeated methods to create illegal recordings. He deliberately approached victims through social networking services (SNS), created illegal recordings, and pretended to care about the victims, displaying a duplicitous attitude. He did not stop at filming but distributed the materials online. Despite the center's ongoing efforts to delete them, the videos continued to be spread, searched for, and consumed repeatedly.

Center officials determined that the man's actions constituted aggravating factors for sentencing. According to the Supreme Court Sentencing Commission, aggravating factors for digital sexual crimes include: ▲particularly malicious methods, ▲reprehensible motives, ▲crimes committed against multiple victims or repeatedly over a significant period, and ▲crimes against particularly vulnerable victims.

The Incheon Center decided to collect all victim cases related to the incident before the first trial. Each center's opinions, petitions from victims, and support performance reports were submitted as evidence for aggravating sentencing factors. Through collaboration with the Central Digital Sexual Crime Victim Support Center, they counted the number of victims and found that there were 15 more nationwide. The number of deletion support cases also increased nearly tenfold, from 1,283 to 10,744.

There were also victims in Busan. In a petition submitted by a victim, she wrote, "It is difficult to interact with others or go out, so I am unable to live a normal life," expressing her anguish. An official from the Busan Digital Sexual Crime Victim Support Center (Ejen Center), which handled the case, said, "Victims live in fear and anxiety, worrying that someone looking at their phone on public transportation might be watching their video or recognizing them. Some even experience sudden panic attacks."

A notice prohibiting illegal filming is posted inside Chungmuro Station of the Seoul subway. Photo by Lee Hyunju

As a result of the joint efforts by the support centers, the perpetrator was sentenced in the first trial to seven years in prison and a seven-year employment restriction at child and youth-related institutions, which was higher than the prosecution's recommendation. Yoo said, "There is a tendency to not view digital sexual crimes as serious offenses, but this ruling is especially meaningful for that reason." She added, "Digital sexual crimes are not just personal issues, but crimes that exploit technology, and it is a reality that vulnerable children and women are being harmed. This has made the need for state-level intervention even clearer."

Field experts unanimously agree that the government and local authorities must set long-term goals and allocate budgets to eradicate sexual crimes against children and adolescents. Ryu Hyejin, team leader at the Incheon Center, emphasized, "The fact that videos cannot be permanently deleted is also clearly the responsibility of the state. Rather than temporary or one-off projects, we need to pursue consistent policy directions." Oh Yeonhee, head of the deletion support team at the Central Digital Sexual Crime Victim Support Center, said, "Given the trend of younger victims, our society needs a much tighter safety net than we have now," and stressed, "The only permanent solution to child and adolescent sexual exploitation crimes is strong punishment of perpetrators."

※If you are experiencing difficulties due to digital sexual crimes, domestic violence, sexual violence, prostitution or sexual exploitation, dating violence, or stalking, you can receive support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by calling the Women's Emergency Hotline 1366 (☎1366). For counseling related to child and adolescent sexual exploitation, you can also receive 1:1 anonymous counseling through the youth counseling channel D4Youth (@d4youth) operated by the Korea Women's Human Rights Institute.