South Korea targets illegal video sites and Google over victim data leak

South Korean authorities are addressing significant issues regarding digital sex crimes and the protection of victim data. Police have arrested two men in their 40s for operating 23 illegal websites that hosted approximately 110,000 illicit adult videos. The suspects allegedly generated revenue through gambling and prostitution advertisements, using overseas servers and 'landing pages' to evade government blocking measures.

Simultaneously, the South Korean government is pursuing legal action against Google following a data leak involving digital sex crime victims. Information submitted to Google to request the deletion of illegal content—including names, ages, workplaces, and phone numbers—was inadvertently exposed on an overseas research site.

Won Min-kyung, Minister of Gender Equality and Family, expressed strong regret to Google and stated that the government is reviewing legal responsibilities under various privacy and telecommunications laws. Google has apologized, attributing the incident to an unintended database sharing error, and has since worked with authorities to remove the exposed information.