'Son Jung-woo, Operator of Child Sexual Exploitation Material Site, Re-arrested Instead of Release... Extradition Process to the U.S.'

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Son Jeong-woo (24), the operator of the world's largest child sexual exploitation site 'Welcome to Video,' has been re-arrested in detention ahead of the forced extradition procedure to the United States.

According to correctional authorities on the 28th, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office executed the detention warrant for extradition against Son, whose sentence was about to expire, yesterday afternoon.

Son was scheduled to be released yesterday after serving a confirmed 1 year and 6 months imprisonment for charges including production and distribution of obscene materials under the Youth Protection Act. However, he could not leave the detention center as the Seoul High Court issued a detention warrant for extradition to the U.S. on the 20th.

The prosecution plans to file a criminal extradition review request to the court within this month. Under the Criminal Extradition Act, the extradition review must be requested within three days from the date of detention under the extradition warrant.

The court must decide on the extradition within two months. The extradition review is a single-instance process with no appeal. The final decision is made by the Minister of Justice.

Son was indicted for operating the 'Welcome to Video' site on the 'dark web,' which requires a special browser to access, from July 2015 to March 2018, distributing sexual exploitation materials.

Son is also indicted in a U.S. court on nine charges including distribution of child pornography. However, even if extradited to the U.S., he is expected to be tried only for international money laundering charges that do not overlap with crimes punishable under Korean law and confirmed guilty verdicts domestically among the extradition-requested crimes.

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