Ruling Party and Government: "Punishment for Possession, Advertising, and Purchase of Child and Adolescent Sexual Crime Materials"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jinyoung] The Democratic Party of Korea and the government have agreed to punish the possession, advertisement, and purchase of sexual crime materials involving children and adolescents. They also decided to promote an independent confiscation system that allows seizure of criminal proceeds even before a guilty verdict is rendered.

Baek Hye-ryun, head of the Digital Sex Crime Eradication Task Force of the Democratic Party of Korea, is delivering opening remarks at the government-party meeting on measures to eradicate digital sex crimes held at the National Assembly on the 23rd. Photo by Yoon Dong-ju doso7@

Baek Hyeryun, head of the Democratic Party's Digital Sexual Crime Eradication Task Force, stated at a briefing following the 'Digital Sexual Crime Eradication Party-Government Meeting' held at the National Assembly on the morning of the same day, "In light of the 'Telegram Nth Room' case, we requested the government to respond with an extraordinary determination to eradicate digital sexual crimes from our society."

Baek said, "The government has decided to punish not only the production and sale but also the possession, advertisement, and purchase of sexual crime materials involving children and adolescents," adding, "We will resolve blind spots in punishment and strengthen the effectiveness of law enforcement by introducing an independent confiscation system that allows seizure of criminal proceeds even before a guilty verdict."

She continued, "We will urgently propose new bills in the 20th National Assembly to ban advertising and introduction of child and adolescent sexual crime materials, introduce reward systems for reporting, expand employment restrictions for sexual offenders, and enact laws related to the independent confiscation system, as these have not yet been proposed."

The party and government also agreed to raise the statutory rape age, which punishes sexual acts with children regardless of consent, from under 13 years old to under 16 years old.

Additionally, they plan to strengthen internet service providers' obligations to prevent the distribution of digital sexual crime materials, establish a 24-hour one-stop support system to protect victims, and focus on shifting social awareness to recognize that "viewing is also a crime."

In a Q&A session, Baek responded to concerns about the independent confiscation system potentially being unconstitutional by saying, "Depending on the type of crime, there are already cases where criminal proceeds are confiscated even before a guilty verdict, so there should be no constitutional issues."

Regarding some civic groups' criticism of the party and government's plan to set minimum sentencing for sexual crimes against children and adolescents as a matter of proportionality, she said, "Such perceptions themselves show a lack of awareness about the seriousness of digital sexual crimes."

On discussions about raising the Supreme Court's sentencing guidelines, she explained, "Since the Supreme Court's sentencing guidelines have an upper limit, it is difficult to achieve sentencing that fits the current times. If the law is amended, higher sentences can be requested. I have asked Kim Youngran, the chair of the Sentencing Commission, to consider the possibility of future legal amendments in discussions."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.