Last month, the Supreme Court of Korea reversed a lower court ruling that had established posting self-taken nude photos without the subject’s consent qualified as a sex offense according to Korean law.
Revenge porn is defined as “the sharing of private, sexual materials, either photos or videos, of another person without their consent and with the purpose of causing embarrassment or distress.”
Regarding the case in question, 50-year-old Mr. Seo distributed pictures of his ex-girlfriend on social media, even posting the nude photos as a comment to her daughter’s social media account.
The lower court had convicted him under the special sex offense law relating to using a camera(성폭력 범죄 처벌에 관한 특례법상, 카메라 등 이용 촬영죄, 제14조 1항) and sentenced him to 8 months in prison.
The Supreme Court reversed the ruling because the woman had taken the pictures
herself. As Seo had not personally used a camera to obtain the photos, the law did not apply, they ruled. He can still be prosecuted for the distribution of illicit materials (porn itself is illegal in Korea).