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South Korea porn: Co-founder of the Soranet site jailed

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Female protesters shout slogans during a rally against 'spy-cam porn' in central Seoul on August 4, 2018.Image source, AFP/Getty
Image caption,

Women have led huge street protests against spy cam porn featured on sites like Soranet

A co-founder of one of South Korea's largest pornography websites has been sentenced to four years in prison by a court in Seoul.

The woman, surnamed Song, was found guilty of aiding and abetting the distribution of obscene material.

Soranet had more than a million users and hosted thousands of illegal videos, many filmed with spy cameras and shared without the consent of women featured.

Producing and disseminating pornography is illegal in South Korea.

Soranet was shut following a public outcry.

Last summer, women organised huge street protests across South Korea, calling on the government to take more serious action against illegal pornography.

Song was also fined 1.4 billion won (£980,000; $1.25m) and ordered to attend 80 hours of sexual violence prevention education.

The 46-year-old is one of four people, including her husband, who ran the site from 1999 to 2016, using overseas servers, the Korea Herald reports.

She fled to New Zealand after police began investigating the site in 2015 but was forced to return to South Korea when her passport was revoked.

Media caption,

The use of hidden and up-skirt cameras is a huge problem in South Korea

She denied the charges, claiming in court that her husband and another couple were in charge of running the site.

The three other co-owners, who have foreign passports, remain at large.

Many of the website's spy-cam videos were taken secretly in toilets and store changing rooms, or posted by ex-partners out for revenge.

Some of the women who had appeared in the videos took their own lives.

Media caption,

Soo-yuen Park has dedicated her life to helping the victims of digital sex crimes in South Korea