Anyways, this is a topic with a serious issue on our hand;
There is a new law in Korea, which states, in it’s most basic form, “Anyone found as a creator, seller, or buyer of materials containing adolescent pornography will be punished as a sexual offender.”
This wouldn't be such a problem if the rules weren't as ambiguous as hell.
More specifically, the law states the following counts
- Any appearances that could be seen as a teen/child
- Any type of pornography from explicit sex to being semi-nude (think mini skirts or swimming suits)
- Any media from illustrations, games, videos, films, etc.
This means that no matter how old a character is, if the reviewer decides that the person drawn is a teenager in revealing outfit/provocative pose/etc, the person who drew the art will be sent to jail.
Jail? Sounds like exaggerating? Well no, it is the truth: people who are caught breaking this law can be either sent to prison for several years or fined a 20,000$ equivalent, and they will lose their job in the entertainment industry.
Who’s in danger? Anyone who is a Korean citizen, regardless of where they live. Illustrators and animators in America can be removed with no consequence, and even small freelance artists and game developers can lose their jobs and have their projects revoked.
This a ridiculous law, but it’s been passed and has caused a huge issue in the Korean online community. Any media before September 2012 is safe, but after that the law is in place. Please help Korean artists to stay safe!
I am not sure if this means that art that i already posted can stay, but continuing to post images by korean artists may end up being a problem. (Easiest example I can think of is the Sword Girls art)
So, how are we going to proceed from now on?