[Online Predators] Distorted awareness, weak law: How digital sex crimes thrive in S. Korea

South Korea has been taking pride in its high digital literacy, but such technological advancements in recent years have enabled perpetrators to exploit sexually explicit content on the dark web.

A report on Korea’s safety published by Statistics Korea showed that 10,605 digital sex crimes were reported in 2022, double the 5,079 reported just a year earlier, thanks to improvements in protections for victims who report them.

A total of 243,855 illegally produced and distributed sexual photos and videos were deleted in 2023, according to data compiled by the Digital Sex Crime Victims Support Center, an organization affiliated with the Gender Ministry.

The figure was up 30,855 from 213,000 in 2022, revealing an alarming picture that more people are becoming victims of digital sex crimes.

Experts argue that a distorted awareness of sex and weak laws that fail to promote public understanding of sex crimes' societal impact, particularly on minors, helps such content proliferate. The lack of comprehensive sex education forms a pipeline of “online predators,” as perpetrators offend out of a sense of curiosity and exploration, they say.

“Without adequately understanding sex and the intricacies of it, people these days, especially the younger generation, are exposed to explicit content more easily before they are ready to process it,” said Huh Chang-deog, a sociology professor at Yeungnam University.

He said ignorance allows people to absorb content from various forms of media that promote harmful ideas about sex, adding that the media has a great impact on shaping people’s views and attitudes by normalizing certain activities.

“Sex” -- even talking about it -- remains a strong taboo in South Korean society. Discussions about sexuality are avoided in households and classrooms. As a result, many young people learn about sex through the internet and pornography, often leading to distorted views of sex and unhealthy attitudes toward it, he added,

Despite the growing need for more comprehensive sex education, the Ministry of Education currently requires all elementary, middle and high school students to receive only 15 hours of sex education a year under the School Health Act. The materials used in the public education system are still old-fashioned, simply covering how reproductive organs look and what changes they undergo during puberty.

“Since schools don’t teach students enough about sex crimes that occur online and offline, those seeking entertainment are at a much higher risk of copying or engaging in behaviors related to digital sex crimes,” said Yoo Seung-chul, a professor of media convergence at Ewha Womans University.

He noted that people also have difficulty learning lessons from the media, which often leads to copycat crimes and triggers curiosity.

“For example, many people focused on the scandalous details of the ‘Burning Sun’ scandal, not the sexual wrongdoings and thinking they should refrain from such,” Yoo explained.

Underbelly of deep web

Technological progress has also led to offenders leveraging the platform’s features and the vast reach they offer, Huh noted, calling it a "control lag phenomenon."

Also, digital sex offenses are taking on new forms that are harder to prevent and crack down on as the tech-forward society grapples with keeping up with the underbelly of the untraceable deep web, he added.

The distribution and transmission of illegal content across online spaces has changed, which is why digital sex crimes have remained hidden for far too long while growing exponentially, according to Yoon. If capturing and sharing intimate footage happened on specific websites and was spread through email before, high-quality footage is now dispensed to myriads of unspecified people through social media platforms.

“The main function of media, connecting the receiver and the sender, has undergone seismic change where people can now quickly produce video content and spread such to unspecified people through various platforms," he said.

More than 200,000 sexually exploitive videos featuring children were distributed on the darknet site “Welcome to Video” between 2015 and 2018. The world's largest known child pornography website by volume of content was operated by a South Korean named Son Jong-woo.

In 2020 criminal operations used the Telegram messenger service to share sexually exploitative content, notably the “Nth Room” and "Doctor's Room," some involving minors, blackmail or rape.

“Now, deep fake (technology) allows perpetrators to misuse a person’s images to generate offending content,” Yoo noted.

Out of jurisdiction

Experts also noted that weak legal mechanisms keep targets out of jurisdiction and fail to dissuade people from committing such acts because they fear long-term imprisonment.

Yoo called for stricter punishments to deter the offenders from future crimes, noting that the country’s law was still light.

The law is far weaker than federal laws in countries like the US, for example, that allow longer sentences for sex crimes, with cases ranging from 15 years to life in prison when involving children.

Min Go-eun, an attorney at Law Firm Jinseo specializing in sex crimes, also urged the need for measures mandating foreign telecommunications companies to cooperate in tracking perpetrators of digital sex crimes fully.

“Sex crime offenders take advantage of social media platforms based overseas like Google and Instagram because actions like searching for evidence of seizing materials have no coercive power on companies based abroad,” she said.

To improve the efficiency of clamping down on perpetrators, Min said authorities should mull changing regulations to require foreign companies to cooperate in the investigation if necessary.

“Social media companies have branches in Korea, and they could help track down perpetrators and delete illegal content on the internet,” Min added.

Band-aid solutions?

Amid growing concerns over rising digital sex crimes, South Korea took steps to restrict access to illegal sexual content through blanket bans and regulations on illicit online content.

In November 2018, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced it would spend 2 billion won to develop technology that can detect and block obscene materials from internet streaming websites and videos to combat the online circulation of pornography and harmful materials.

In the same year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government rolled out a scheme to inspect the city’s restrooms daily to combat the growing placement of spy cameras in public toilets.

Last year, the city government announced plans to use an AI-based monitoring system developed by the Seoul Institute of Technology to automatically find and delete sexual exploitation videos on social media and prevent their redistribution around the clock.

Despite efforts, the distribution of digital content appears to be growing.

The number of nonconsensual sexual photos and videos that were deleted by the government was 28,000 in 2018. The number kept growing to 95,000 in 2019, 158,000 in 2020 and 169,000 in 2021, according to the Gender Ministry.

South Korea’s digital boom has increased convenience but also opened a new realm of serious crime, exploiting anonymity to endanger minors and vulnerable individuals with modern slavery and online sex crimes. The Korea Herald delves into dark digital spaces and efforts to combat these crimes with this new series. This is the second installment. -- Ed.