TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo Metropolitan Police have arrested a male child welfare facility employee from Saitama Prefecture over the alleged sale of child pornography last year, reports the Asahi Shimbun (Oct. 31).
Between March 14 and July 27 of last year, Korean national Pyeon Soo-In, 31, allegedly pretended to be a girl on online message boards. “I want some pocket money. I have videos and images taken in the bath,” he wrote.
He subsequently sold 10 items, including videos of nude children, to multiple men for a total of 34,500 yen.
Upon his arrest on suspicion of violating the Child Prostitution and Child Pornography Prohibition Act on Friday, Pyeon said, “I’m interested in naked elementary and middle school students, and I’ve been collecting videos and images for about five years. About two years ago, when my life became difficult, I started selling them to pay for food and other expenses.”
The suspect explained that he had sold the videos to 20 to 30 people, earning a total of around 200,000 yen. Approximately 2,800 videos and images believed to be child pornography were stored on the suspect’s mobile phone and computer.
The suspect has been working at the child welfare facility since around 2023. Police believe that the videos and images in the possession of the suspect do not include any of children from the facility where he works.
