Female founder of South Korea's largest porn site, Soranet, arrested after living in New Zealand as fugitive

Soranet, which once had more than one million members, was closed two years ago after complaints from women's rights groups. Photo / Supplied

The female founder of Korea's largest porn site has been arrested after living as a fugitive in New Zealand for years, AFP reports.

A New Zealand police spokeswoman told the Herald the arrest was a result of the combined efforts of authorities here and in South Korea.

"Oceanz and NZ Interpol assisted South Korea with their investigation and as a result the female was arrested when she returned to South Korea," the spokeswoman said.

"This is a great example of international co-operation between the two countries, working together and assisting each other in investigations."

On June 18, a female with the surname Song returned to South Korea from New Zealand after her passport was annulled by authorities. She was then arrested by the police on June 21.

On June 25, the Cyber Investigation Services of Seoul Police Agency announced they arrested 45-year-old Song for violating the laws on child and juvenile sex protection.

Set up in 1999, the website Soranet held tens of thousands of illegal porn videos, including "revenge porn" and spycam porn videos of women secretly filmed at public locations.

Distributing pornography is illegal in South Korea, although many such videos are widely consumed on servers based in foreign countries, or secretly shared on file-sharing sites, AFP reports.

Soranet, which once had more than one million members, was closed two years ago after complaints from women's rights groups.

Song's husband and another couple known to be co-owners of the site - all of whom have Australian citizenship or permanent residency - remain overseas.

They are also accused of abetting illegal activities by Soranet members who shared videos in which women were secretly filmed in public toilets, classrooms, changing rooms, subways and other public locations.

Some members were also accused of jointly planning gang rapes - some of which targeted minors - and posting videos of the victims on the site.

The owners are believed to have earned tens of millions of dollars from advertising promoting websites that arrange prostitution and gambling - both technically illegal but widespread in South Korea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said last month the spycam epidemic had become a "part of daily life" and urged a wider crackdown and tougher punishments for offenders.