How Father of Son Jeong-woo Reported His Own Son During Investigation

The father of Son Jeong-woo, operator of the child sex trafficking website 'Welcome2Video (W2V),' directly reported his son to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office in May 2020 on charges of concealing criminal proceeds, among others, in order to prevent his son's extradition to the United States. Son Jeong-woo was confirmed to have operated W2V on the dark web from 2015 to 2018, trading child sex trafficking materials, and received a sentence of 1 year and 6 months in prison, which he completed. Although he was indicted in the United States, a South Korean court denied his extradition to the U.S. in 2020, allowing him to avoid being sent there. At the time, Son Jeong-woo's father submitted a petition to the court stating that his son's extradition to the U.S. would be harsh. In his petition, he cited reasons such as the local food, language, culture, and the prison environment for sex offenders in the U.S., arguing that his son would find it difficult to endure prison life. He also pointed out that long sentences could be imposed for just money laundering and possession charges, and that additional indictments in the U.S., separate from the trial in South Korea, could result in sentences of over 100 years.

Son Jeong-woo was accused of laundering approximately 400 million won obtained from selling child sex trafficking materials by converting them to cash through cryptocurrency accounts and accounts under his father's name. He was also accused of using about 5.6 million won for online gambling. Son Jeong-woo was sentenced to 2 years in prison and a fine of 5 million won in the first trial on charges of concealing criminal proceeds and was taken into custody. The first trial court explained its sentencing rationale by stating that the defendant had intelligently and meticulously concealed his profits through complex transactions, and that the long-term operation of the site stemmed from a belief in the possibility of thoroughly hiding criminal proceeds. In November 2022, the appellate court upheld the original ruling.

W2V, operated by Son Jeong-woo, was a global child sex trafficking website used by 1.28 million people in 32 countries. The site predominantly featured child sex trafficking materials involving children under 15 years old, with over 250,000 videos identified. The youngest victim was a 6-month-old infant. This case sparked calls to address the inadequacy of penalties for concealing profits from child sex trafficking crimes and highlighted the need for new sentencing guidelines for the offense of concealing criminal proceeds under the Act on the Prevention of Criminal Proceeds Concealment.