POST PUTTING CHILDREN UP FOR SALE

[Anchor Lead]

A post on a widely used site selling secondhand goods has made headlines in Korea. The items for sale were children. It's been revealed that someone had stolen the children's photos and posted the message pretending to be their father. Police are investigating the matter.

[Pkg]

This post on an online used goods marketplace states the user wants to sell his children due to financial troubles. Three other similar posts were uploaded later. The children's photos were posted unedited, and some expressions about the girl in the picture were sexually explicit. The phone number indicated in the message was found to belong to the children's father.

[Soundbite] (CHILDREN'S FATHER(VOICE ALTERED)) : "They are my children, but I never wrote this post. I never imagined someone would use such a beautiful photo that way."

But the father says a few days ago he posted a comment on a post selling a forklift truck, suspecting it was fraudulent. In retaliation, the seller apparently stole his children's photos and used them to upload the concerning post. The user ID matched that of the post selling the forklift truck.

[Soundbite] (CHILDREN'S FATHER(VOICE ALTERED)) : "He called me and swore at me. He threatened to do something to my children. I didn't know he would go this far."

But this was not the first time the father was blackmailed. Last month someone posted his children's images on the same website in a message offering free giveaways. The user who posted it at the time was also a seller of a used forklift truck. The father was blackmailed for posting a message to warn others of fraud, as the user's contact number was blacklisted on a website listing fraudulent transactions. Although the user IDs shown in the two posts are different, the father believes it's the same person. Police are investigating the matter to find any violations of the Information and Communications Network Act.