One of the most baffling laws in South Korea, one that annoys many foreigners staying here long-term, is the one that makes pornography illegal. In Korea, producing and viewing any kind of pornography is illegal. Period. The Korean government censors the internet to ensure that no pornography surfaces online that was produced in Korea. Also, within Korea, you cannot connect to most of the pornography websites. Of course, in our modern, tech-savvy age, it is not impossible to watch porn in Korea (imported, VPN, etc.) but the Korean government does everything in its power to make it hard for you.
Why is porn illegal?
Technically, if you get caught watching porn, nothing really big will happen to you (unless it is child porn, obviously). However, producing or selling porn is a jailable offense. The Korean government has a special committee in place, the Korea Communications Commission, to censor sexual content. These are some of the most strict regulations on pornography amongst modernized countries. Most countries only restrict pornography featuring already illegal acts, such as child pornography. So why does Korea have such strict laws in place?
Technically, the Korean Constitution aims to protect its citizens from obscenities, and porn is thusly seen as an obscenity. Some experts claim that Koreans see porn as an obscenity due to its Confucian past, and its current active Christian population. Others link it back to the fact that Korea was under a strict military government until the late 1980s. Censorship was a big part of that military government, and it is still a big theme within the current democratic government.
Generally, people link the ban on porn to preventing sex crimes. Some people in Korea believe that watching porn leads to men committing certain sexual crimes. Thus, prohibiting porn would be protecting the society.
Will I go to jail for watching porn?
Will you go to jail if you watch porn in Korea? The answer is no. Unless the pornography is highly disturbing and obscene, you have nothing to worry about. However, if you get caught distributing, selling or producing porn, you can face up to one year in jail plus a fine. The Korean government cracks down harder on child porn, both possessing and distributing is a jailable offense.
The future of porn in Korea
Porn stays a tricky subject within Korea. In 2017, the Korean government sought to ban Tumblr due to pressures of anti-porn crusaders. Tumblr was seen as “obscene” and spreading pornographic images. In the end, Korea and Tumblr decided to work together to monitor the Korean Tumblr better for pornographic materials.
The legality of porn has become a major topic of discussion again lately, due to the many molka scandals (the secret, sexual, filming of women in public places). Two camps have arisen. On one hand, people blame the rise of molka on the ban of porn. Due to repressed sexual urges, people have started to make their own “porn.” There are lots of people thus calling for a weakening of the law, or even of full legalization of pornograhpy (between consenting adults.) Others, however, see the rise of molka as a reason to crack down even harder on porn. They require more censorship, and a harder crackdown on both molka sites and regular porn websites.
For more information on legal restrictions in South Korea, see 10 Things You Didn’t Know Are Illegal in Korea.