S. Korea seeks to allow lawful hacking by investigators to delete illegal sexual material

Seoul, Aug. 20 (Yonhap) — The South Korean government is considering allowing investigators to lawfully hack into websites hosting illegally filmed sexual content as part of efforts to combat digital sex crimes, officials announced on Thursday. This proposal, outlined in a collaborative plan by the Gender Equality Ministry, the Korea Media and Communications Commission, and the National Police Agency, aims to swiftly remove exploitative material and safeguard victims while gathering crucial evidence, according to the joint response.

The surge in such cases prompted the move, with authorities recording 17,716 digital sex crime incidents between 2021 and 2025, a significant rise from the 2,087 victims supported in 2019. Authorities have vowed to amend legislation to grant investigators these powers, drawing parallels to existing warrant-based systems in Australia and Britain.

The plan also proposes criminalizing the operation of websites featuring sexually exploitative illegal material, forming a specialized investigation unit to identify and neutralize these sites, and banning advertisements on them. Additionally, authorities will notify the U.S. Fair Trade Commission about overseas-based websites that fail to remove sexually exploitative content involving Korean victims.

Currently, 34,628 websites harboring illegally filmed sexual material exist, with 6,683 still active, hosting an estimated 2.15 million videos involving Korean victims, according to the source. Police have dismantled 126 illegal websites since 2021, seizing 30.4 billion won (US$21.8 million) in criminal proceeds from 117 of these sites.

The government aims to streamline its efforts to dismantle illegal websites and curb the dissemination of illegally filmed material, as Gender Equality Minister Won Min-kyong emphasized in a briefing.