'Welcome to Video' Son Jung-woo 2nd Hearing Today... Decision on US Extradition

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court's decision on whether to extradite Son Jeong-woo (24), the operator of the world's largest child sexual exploitation site "Welcome to Video," to the United States will be announced on the 16th.

The Seoul High Court Criminal Division 20 (Presiding Judge Kang Young-soo) will hold the second extradition hearing for Son in the morning. Son, who was absent from the first hearing last month, is expected to appear in person to state his position.

Son's extradition was requested under the Korea-US treaty and other agreements on charges of international money laundering. The key issue in the hearing is expected to be the prosecution's failure to indict Son on charges related to concealing criminal proceeds when investigating him for producing and distributing obscene materials in the past.

Son's defense attorney suspects that despite sufficient evidence being secured through Son's active cooperation at the time, the prosecution omitted the indictment. They argue that extraditing Son to the US belatedly due to the prosecution's mistake in not indicting him is inhumane. The defense also claims that Son should not be extradited because there is no US guarantee that he will not be punished again for charges he has already been penalized for domestically.

On the other hand, the prosecution holds the position that the Korea-US Extradition Treaty prohibits additional punishment beyond the extradited crimes, thus the guarantee is effective. Furthermore, the prosecution states that one cryptocurrency transaction by Son was difficult to uncover without significant cooperation with the US, and therefore the investigation was not properly conducted at the time.

The court plans to review both parties' arguments once more during the second hearing before deciding on the extradition. If the court grants the extradition and the Minister of Justice approves it, Son will be extradited to the US within a month.

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