Protesters Fights Against The Ban Of Porn Sites In South Korea

Amid the rising controversy in South Korea surrounding secretly filmed spycam porn, the country's Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has come up with stricter measures to block access to porn websites.

The organisation has sanctioned the expansion of stricter blocking methods following protests that saw tens of thousands of women take to the streets last year on a monthly basis, urging the South Korean government to introduce laws to stop voyeurs using spy cameras to capture graphic images of them without their permission.

However, not everyone in the country is happy with the KCC's response and, as reported by Korea Bizwire, a candlelit protest was recently held outside of Seoul Station calling on the government to grant access to online porn. Pick your battles, and all that.

Jokes aside, the wider message of the protest was highlighting the infringement upon individual's freedom - the citizens of South Korea should be able to decide whether they want to spend their Friday evening browsing Pornhub or not.

The friction heightened on 11 February, when the KCC's initiative - known as the 'https ban' - cut off access to a total of 895 foreign-based websites, a majority of which were pornography or gambling sites.

However, many think there's something more sinister going on underneath the surface, and that the whole thing is part of a censoring and surveillance scheme.

PA

An online petition was created as a result, decrying the measure and calling on the government to respond. Which they did, after a whopping 230,000 citizens signed the form.

An official press release from the KCC reads: "[We] have enhanced the technical means to filter secure or indirect access to illegal content on foreign websites, which includes illegal pornography and gambling."

Anyone who is caught taking photos or videos of someone's bodily parts without consent in South Korea faces a hefty punishment: up to five years behind bars or a 10 million won (£6,700) fine.

However, there is no punishment for watching or owning porn - which is why so many people see the ban as an invasion of their privacy and their freedom.

Whether these protests are listened to is yet to be seen. But as it stands, watching pornography in South Korea is tricky business right now.

Topics: government, World News, South Korea, Ban, Protest

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Daisy is a UK-based freelance journalist with too many opinions. She loves everything film and music-related and has a track record writing for Little White Lies, BWRC, and Film Daily. Contact her at [email protected]