The operator of the world’s largest child porn site said he would rather be punished in South Korea than extradited to the US, where he is likely to face heavier punishment.

The father of 24-year-old Son Jong-woo, who ran the Welcome to Video site on the dark web, appealed to the court and the Justice Ministry, arguing that it would be “too harsh” to extradite Son and that he would be sentenced to at least 50 years in jail in the US.

The US Department of Justice requested his extradition last year. A US federal grand jury indicted him in 2018 on nine charges including producing, advertising and distributing child porn, as well as conspiracy and money laundering.

The Seoul High Court is to decide by the end of June whether to extradite Son. Due to the rule against double jeopardy, the court will review only the money laundering charge regarding Son's extradition.

“I sincerely apologize to the people in Korea and abroad who have suffered (due to Son’s crime),” the father wrote in the petition.

“(Extradition) would be too harsh in terms of protecting Korean nationals … I beg the (Korean) prosecution to indict him for money laundering so he can be heavily punished in Korea.”

The father wrote that his son was not educated on the severity of online crime or on the penalties he could incur, because he dropped out of middle school.

Son completed his 18-month prison term on Monday for trafficking child pornography, but remains behind bars as the court is set to review the extradition request.

The website contained more than 250,000 videos amounting to around 8 terabytes of data, making it “the largest child sexual exploitation market by volume of content,” according to the US Justice Department.

By Kim So-hyun (sophie@heraldcorp.com)