The government has established a legal basis to block illegal sexual advertisements through an 'automatic warning transmission' system. The automatic warning transmission system involves local governments collecting and registering phone numbers listed on obscene, decadent, and illegal private loan flyers, then continuously making warning calls to make it impossible for those numbers to be used in business.
On the 18th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that the partial amendment bill of the Outdoor Advertisement Act, which specifies the legal basis for establishing and operating an automatic warning transmission system, has been promulgated. This bill will come into effect six months after its promulgation.
Under current law, fines of up to 42,000 won can be imposed on illegal flyers from private loan companies or entertainment establishments. However, the effectiveness has been low due to difficulties in identifying those subject to fines. This is because their advertising methods are mainly through flyers, such as business cards, which are secretly distributed in large quantities (accounting for 70%), rather than through fixed advertisements like signs, banners, and posters, which are relatively easier to detect.
As a result, many local governments have been operating their own automatic warning transmission systems. To prepare for situations where the recipient may refuse the call, they continuously make calls from hundreds of outgoing numbers, and during this automatic transmission, young people or sex buyers, as well as those seeking illegal loans, become unable to use those phone numbers. After implementing this system, there was also a 69% reduction in illegal advertising calls in Jeju City over three years. However, the National Anti-Corruption Commission and others have pointed out that the explicit legal basis for this is weak.
With the establishment of this legal basis, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to actively cooperate with the Korean National Police Agency and local governments to strengthen crackdowns and adjustments against illegal flyers.