SEOUL, South Korea - Seoul Metropolitan Police have incarcerated the operator of an amateur porn website that boasted approximately 10,000 members who shared obscene pictures of their wives and girlfriends. Authorities also booked 53 members of the website who, authorities say, uploaded immoral pictures.Police said the 39-year-old webmaster opened a website in September 2005 and facilitated the sharing of video clips and pictures depicting nudity and sexual intercourse by 9,887 of the site's members. The would-be webmaster is accused of collecting 27,000 won (approximately $29 US) for each two-month membership purchased by 857 members, netting him 85 million won (approximately $92,000 US). Police said the images included "abnormal" practices, such as threesomes and partner swapping.A police spokesperson said the webmaster and nine other members engaged in these practices "between once and seven times," as facilitated by the website. Police went on to say three couples engaged in partner swapping and the watching of each other's sexual activities.Many among the 53 members who were booked were office workers, entrepreneurs, and college students — not to mention between the ages of 30 and 40. Four were women — two of them housewives — one was a self-employed woman in her 30s, and one an office worker in her 20s. Reportedly, members explained to police that their sex lives were "boring" and they joined the website out of curiosity.Police discovered this particular webmaster already received a suspended sentence for operating the same website in March 2005, but the operator later reopened the site. The webmaster also allegedly had joined in the partner swapping on three occasions while pretending he was a member. The Cyber Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police asked the Korea Information Security Commission to shut down the site.
The police spokesperson explained there was no legal foundation for punishing alternative sexual activities, "but if people pay for partner swapping, it qualifies as commercial sex, which is illegal. Posting nude pictures of girlfriends without their consent is also a crime," he added.
