South Korea’s Supreme Court has overturned a lower court decision and ruled that sexually explicit drawings of teenagers in “anime” cartoons and “manga” comics should be considered images of child sexual abuse.

After issuing its ruling on Thursday, the court ordered a retrial for the operator of a file-sharing web site accused of violating the child protection law for distributing video clips that included depictions of characters in school uniforms engaging in explicit sex acts, The Korea Herald reported.

The defendant, only identified by his surname, Lim, had previously been found guilty of sharing pornography for profit for nearly three years from May 2010 and fined GBP 3,378.

Lower courts had stated, however, that it was “unreasonable” to prosecute him on charges of disseminating images of children being abused simply because the characters in animated drawings wore school uniforms and had a “young appearance”.

The lower courts said more evidence that the characters were under the legal age of consent would be required to go ahead with a prosecution.

The Supreme Court has overturned those decisions, ruling, “In the perspective of a common individual in our society, the contents of the videos demonstrate what can be seen to be teenagers”.