Porn sites targeted in Net nanny crackdown

Pornographic Internet content came under fire from the government yesterday with the unveiling of a plan to block more foreign sex-oriented Web sites and increase penalties on those who post obscene material to local portals.
Regulators are acting in the wake of an incident in which a pornographic user-posted video clip found its way on to Yahoo! Korea last week and became the most searched item before it was removed. The portals Daum Communications and Naver were also found to have run obscene content for several hours last week.
“The government is considering punishing portal operators as accomplices in aiding and abetting illegal deeds by those uploading sexually explicit digital content,” said Suh Byung-jo, director general of the Information Security & Privacy Division at the Information and Communication Ministry.
Should the ministry introduce the plan, those posting obscene movie clips and pictures as well as portal site operators could be subject to up to one year in prison or a maximum fine of 10 million won.
The ministry said it will block 180 foreign sex sites, bringing to 222 the number of such sites blocked in Korea. There are, of course, millions of sex-oriented Web sites on the Internet, but officials say they are trying to prevent foreign sex content from being posted to local portals.
In a separate move, the ministry moved to block 32 pro-North Korea sites, bringing to 73 the number of such sites blocked in South Korea.
The Defense Security Command requested the action.

By Seo Ji-eun Staff Writer [spring@joongang.co.kr]