🫰South Korea🇰🇷: Government steps up crackdown on illegal pornographic websites and expands investigative powers

🫰South Korea🇰🇷: Government steps up crackdown on illegal pornographic websites and expands investigative powers

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the Korea Communications and Media Commission, and the Korean National Police Agency announced on the 20th a “comprehensive response plan against illegal websites”. The new measures will target not only the operators of these platforms, but also those who contribute to their operation and financing.

➡️ Context: according to government data, digital sex crimes involving the production and distribution of pornographic material increased from 2,314 cases in 2023 to 3,579 in 2024 and 4,273 in 2025. At the same time, many illegal pornographic websites host their servers overseas to circumvent South Korean legislation, making it more difficult to identify those responsible and enforce sanctions.

➡️ New partnerships: specialized investigation teams will be established within police departments in major cities to conduct proactive investigations. Cooperation with foreign organizations, including the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) 🇺🇸 and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) 🇺🇸, will also be expanded.

➡️ New investigative powers: investigative authorities will be authorized to access websites for the purpose of removing illegal material or collecting it as evidence. If the location of the server or the suspect cannot be determined, such actions will require a court order.

➡️ Broader scope of enforcement: potential sanctions will not be limited to individuals directly involved in the production of illegal content.

👉 Website developers may also be subject to legal measures.

👉 A legal basis for blocking advertising used by these platforms will be established, targeting one of their main sources of revenue.

👉 Through enhanced due diligence (EDD) procedures under the Act on Reporting and Utilization of Specific Financial Transaction Information, authorities will seek to suspend payments and accounts used to operate illegal websites.

➡️ Technology to combat mirror sites: authorities will also develop systems to automatically detect mirror sites, which operators use to bring their platforms back online after a blocking order simply by changing the domain.
The South Korean authorities therefore seek to expand their enforcement strategy beyond domain blocking, targeting the infrastructure, financing, and individuals that enable these websites to remain operational.

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