South Korea Porn Site Shut Down? Soranet Server Taken Offline, Operators Arrested After International Investigation

The main server for South Korea’s largest porn website has been shut down as part of a joint investigation involving authorities in the Netherlands and the United States. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency announced Thursday they took the Soranet server offline last week and arrested 62 people for gambling, prostitution and producing content in connection with the site, state news agency Yonhap reported.

Soranet, also referred to as Sora.net or Sora's Guide, launched in 1999 and had more than a million users before authorities took it down this month.

"From the American perspective, Sora.net might not seem out of the ordinary," the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law wrote recently. "However, in Korea, pornographic websites are prohibited pursuant to the country’s telecommunications law ... not only is the very existence of the website illegal, but the website has become a forum for encouraging criminal activities of sexual nature, posing a serious challenge to law enforcement and public safety in general."

Police have been trying to close Soranet for months because members have allegedly used it to demean women, post voyeuristic photos and discuss rape, the Korea Times reported. Revenge porn was also common on the site, which generated more than $8.6 million, according to Korea JoongAng Daily.

It's been shuttered before. In 2004, law enforcement arrested 63 people who operated Soranet. At that point, they transferred servers out of the country.

The one taken down this month was located in the Netherlands and could store 120 terabytes of data. But at least one anonymous fan told the Times there was no reason to worry, insisting "there will come a second and then a third Soranet because there will always be demand for such content."

The authorities told reporters Thursday they were aware of that possibility. "The operators are presumed to be backing up the contents of the server, so there is the possibility of them opening another site," Yonhap reported an official said. "In that case, [we] will launch another joint investigation to shut down the site and arrest the operators."