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The Canadian Press - ONLINE EDITION

Volunteers help SKorea battle online porn; one says it's 'like shovelling snow in a blizzard'

By: Hyung-Jin Kim, The Associated Press

Posted: 12/9/2012 11:12 PM | Comments: 0

In this Nov. 20, 2012 photo, Moon Tae-hwa, a devout Christian and family counselor, uses a desktop computer to hunt down online pornography at his office in Seoul, South Korea. Moon is among the most successful members of the “Nuri Cops” (roughly “net cops”), a squad of nearly 800 volunteers who help government censors by patrolling the Internet for pornography in their spare time. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea - Moon Tae-Hwa stares at his computer, dizzy and nauseous from the hours of porn he's viewed online. He feels no shame — he says he's "cleaning up dirty things."

Moon is among the most successful members of the "Nuri Cops" (roughly "net cops"), a squad of nearly 800 volunteers who help government censors by patrolling the Internet for pornography in their spare time.

Unlike most developed nations, pornography is illegal in South Korea, though it remains easy for its tech-savvy population to find. More than 90 per cent of South Korea's homes have high-speed Internet access, and more than 30 million of its 50 million people own smartphones.

Moon says it's like "shovelling snow in a blizzard," but neither he nor the government show any sign of giving up the fight.

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