A key operator of AVMOV, an online site that distributed illegal footage filmed of family members and romantic partners, has been placed under arrest.
Kim Hong-sup, chief warrant judge at the Suwon District Court, issued an arrest warrant Thursday for a man in his 40s, identified as A, who faces charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, after conducting a pre-arrest detention hearing. Judge Kim cited "concerns over destruction of evidence and flight risk" as grounds for issuing the warrant.
Launched in August 2022, AVMOV was a large-scale illegal site with approximately 540,000 registered members. The platform operated by allowing users to share videos secretly filmed of acquaintances or romantic partners, or to download illegal footage using paid points. Access to the site is currently blocked.
A is suspected of posting large volumes of illegal footage on AVMOV and earning criminal proceeds through the operation. After police launched their investigation, he fled to Thailand, where he remained until voluntarily returning to Korea on the 11th of this month alongside another operator, a man in his 30s identified as B. The two were arrested upon arrival at Incheon International Airport.
Police filed arrest warrants for both A and B the previous day, but prosecutors returned the warrant request for B.
The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency had detected the AVMOV site during its own monitoring process in December last year and launched a preliminary investigation. Police have also booked seven other suspects at the operator level, in addition to A and B, on charges of violating the special act on the punishment of sexual crimes, and are investigating the case.
When news of the arrests of A and others emerged, President Lee Jae-myung posted about the case on X, formerly Twitter, on the 12th of this month, warning, "From now on, even if people commit such acts and hide abroad, we will forcibly repatriate them and punish them severely without fail."
