Extradition of child predator

Legislature should toughen laws related to sexual exploitation crimes

A South Korean man convicted of creating and running the world's largest child pornography website site called “Welcome to Video” will likely be extradited to the United States instead of being released. The Seoul High Court issued a warrant for the extradition of the man surnamed Son, Monday.

The Ministry of Justice has had the matter under consideration since receiving a criminal extradition request for Son, 24, from the U.S. Department of Justice in April last year. Son received an 18-month prison sentence for producing and distributing child pornography through Welcome to Video, a site on the dark web that contained more than 250,000 child porn videos. His release date is April 27. But he could instead be extradited to the U.S. once the ministry makes a decision after a court review.

The Welcome to Video incident was uncovered through an international operation coordinated by 32 countries. Over 300 people, including Son, were arrested and charged, and 223 of them were South Korean. This is not surprising. Similar incidents involving the sexual exploitation of children have resulted in a slap on the wrist for the perpetrators. Most of the users of Welcome to Video were either fined or given suspended prison sentences.

If sent to the U.S., Son will likely face a far more severe punishment than he received in South Korea. A man in the U.S. was given a 10-year prison sentence for merely possessing illegal videos downloaded from Welcome to Video. This is a far cry from Korea's lax response to this depraved criminal behavior.

It's fair to say that the country has been a safe haven for the perpetrators of sexual exploitation crimes because of its lenient penalties and faulty sentencing guidelines. Son's extradition to the U.S. will surely serve as an occasion to reveal our pathetic failure to punish child predators. The National Assembly should toughen laws related to sexual exploitation crimes before its current four-year term ends in late May.