In a post I made mention of Koreans enforcing their laws in other countries. That was not entirely true. What happens is that even if something is legal in the country you do it in, if it is illegal in Korea and they find out you did it legally in another country, you CAN and WILL be charged in Korea.
There are two cases that happened in the mid to late 2000's that come to mind.
The first concerned a hagwon teacher and was brought to prominence by Marmots Hole. A korean teenager was surfing porn sites and saw a video with his hagwon teacher having sex with a foreigner. He reported it to the Seoul Metropolitan Police web site. The woman, known in Canada as Almond Tease, was arrested and charged for violating Korea's pornography laws.
I believe the law states you can only make crappy soft core porn that must seem like rape 75% of the time. She made good old western hard core porn IN Canada. With full penetration and no blurring. And it was made available via the web IN Canada. So of course she was charged with breaking the laws of Korea even though it happened in Canada.
Then you have the case of the Korean guy who was in the Netherlands. He tried ... marijuana. And blogged about it. It doesn't matter that he smoked it in the Netherlands where it is LEGAL. He is Korean and lives in Korea so of course he was charged for breaking the law for doing something that was LEGAL in the country he did it.
So beware of what you have done LEGALLY because if it isn't legal in Korea you could be in trouble. No wonder they have a snitch web site. They need to know what you have done regardless of where.
I tend to laugh at Koreans now who go on about America forcing it's will on others. What the hell do they think this is?
we have a similar law in Australia, but it's quite sensible. If a gentleman is caught soliciting under-aged prostitues abroad he can be charged with the offence in Australia. I think it's a good measure aimed at stopping sex tourists. Quite why Korea would punish a geezer for smoking a bit of weed in Amsterdam is quite beyond me. It's a loopy world sometimes.
ReplyDeleteBurndog
ReplyDeleteThat law I can understand and agree with. The one about War Criminals I can understand. But the porn ones and smoking pot? It is a loopy world sometimes.