More than a dozen people were booked Oct. 15 on charges involving the mass-distribution of online pornography, police said Sunday.



According to the Seoul Jongam Police Station, a 23-year-old man identified only by his surname, Hwang, was booked on charges of uploading more than 230,000 porn videos on 23 websites over nine months from December through August.



Police say Hwang operated 17 computers in a home in Gwangju Metropolitan City, where he earned a profit of 58 million won ($51,000) by distributing the pornographic content.







(Yonhap)



He is also accused of misusing other people’s personal information to evade police by creating 27 accounts to upload the videos. The officially jobless man had started the business for easy money, police said, initially uploading videos on Japanese and US websites.



Twelve other alleged “heavy uploaders” of porn were arrested the same day. Police say they made more than 40 million won by distributing over 20,000 pornographic videos.



The authorities have notified the tax administration, which will attempt to retrieve illicit profits amounting to 100 million won, but full redemption seems unlikely as police say most has already been spent. The 250 million pornographic videos will be deleted.



“Since August, tighter regulations have been enforced regarding heavy porn uploaders and websites where the videos are shared. We are seeking to prolong the special control period, which was slated to end Nov. 20, as there are still more mass-uploaders at large,” the police said.



By Choi Ji-won (jwchoikr@heraldcorp.com)