A 22-year-old South Korean exchange student who came to Ireland to learn English had more than 12,000 images of hardcore child and adult pornography stored on a laptop computer, Galway Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Kim Young Hoon (22), from Seoul, South Korea, pleaded guilty to having child pornography in his possession, at Knocknacarra, Galway, on September 12th last, contrary to Section 6 (1) of the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998.
The accused had downloaded the pornographic images from the Internet before leaving Korea. He arrived in Galway city on August 29th and attended the Galway Cultural School to learn English. He was staying in a house in the Salthill area.
Det Sgt Sean O'Grady told the court the accused showed the pornography to a German student who was staying in the same house and shortly afterwards the landlady contacted the school and the Garda. She was greatly distressed because she had a 12-year-old daughter.
Sgt O'Grady said there were 12,412 pornographic images on a computer disc and on the hard drive of the laptop computer. Of these, 9,784 involved child pornography. Some of the images depicted naked children, from a very young age up to 16, while other images showed children performing sexual acts or involved in sexual acts with adults.
Ms Deirdre Brown, defending, said it was not illegal in South Korea to have pornography in one's possession, but it was illegal to buy or sell it. She said her client did not know it was illegal to have such material in his possession in this country.
Judge Carroll Moran adjourned sentencing for one week and remanded the accused on continuing bail to appear again on April 16th.