국내 접속 가능 음란사이트 6600여곳…한국인 성착취물 215만건

South Korea hosts over 6,600 illegal adult websites, with 215,000 Korean individuals affected by such content, according to government data collected during digital sex crime victim support processes. Almost 19% of the identified 6,600 sites remain accessible, allowing visitors to view Korean sexual exploitation materials. The government plans to intensify investigations and punishments against illegal site operators, block advertisements and freeze bank accounts to curb their revenue.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, in collaboration with the National Police Agency, released a comprehensive plan to analyze and combat illegal sites distributing illegal content. Their analysis revealed that despite removal requests from the government or access block actions, 6,683 of the 6,628 sites were still accessible.

Approximately 3,382 of the accessible sites can be accessed directly via the domestic broadband network, with 1,316 sites featuring Korean-related categories, estimated to contain 215,000 Korean sexual exploitation materials. Advertisements related to illegal activities, such as betting and sex work, are the primary revenue sources for these sites, with an average of 34.7 ads per site, some reaching up to 300 ads and generating at least 2 billion won in criminal profits annually.

The government aims to cut off the "money trail" of these sites, propose legal changes to classify the creation and operation of these sites as independent criminal offenses, and establish a "proactive defense system" using lawful hacking techniques to delete original data from illegal sites. They also plan to strengthen penalties for those who create or operate illegal sites, and to classify such actions as independent criminal offenses rather than misdemeanors.