[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 112 (Friday, August 3, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8901-S8903]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      KOREAN GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES

  Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I rise today to express my extreme concern 
about developments in the Republic of Korea that have far reaching 
negative implications for U.S. semiconductor companies. I am referring 
to the massive and unjustified government bailout that the South Korean 
government is providing to Hyundai Electronics, now known as Hynix.
  To date, the South Korean Government and the government-owned banks 
have given Hynix over $4 billion in loans and other types of financing 
which carry the guarantee of the government of Korea. This is a subsidy 
pure and simple. As if this is not bad enough, however, two Wall Street 
Journal articles over the past week report that the Korean government 
is now planning on giving Hynix an additional billion dollars to keep 
them solvent.
  In the year 2000, Hynix was the world's largest producer of dynamic 
random access memory, or DRAM, an important type of memory 
semiconductor that is used in everything from personal computers to 
satellites. Hynix has captured over 24 percent of the world 
semiconductor market. However, Hynix achieved such a large share of the 
global market not because it is particularly good at making DRAMs, but 
because it borrowed excessively and built up enormous capacity.
  Now, Hynix is broke and cannot repay the loans it took out to finance 
its expansion. Verging on bankruptcy, Hynix has been kept alive by the 
South Korean government through infusions of new cash. Far from solving 
the company's problems, however, these government subsidies are just 
plunging Hynix deeper into debt. This behavior circumvents normal 
market forces and has very severe implications for the companies in the 
U.S. and the rest of the world that are forced to compete with Hynix's 
illegally subsidized products.
  Over the past several months, the Korean government has given 
assurances to me, to my colleague Senator Crapo, and other members of 
this body, as well as Ambassador Zoellick, Secretary Evans and 
Secretary O'Neill, that the Korean government will stop giving these 
subsidies to Hynix, subsidies that clearly violate our international 
trade agreements. Now, the Korean government seems poised to violate 
these assurances completely, destroying the U.S. semiconductor industry 
in the process.
  I call on the Korean government to stop subsidizing Hynix, to stop 
this distortion of the international semiconductor market, and to let 
Hynix sink or swim on its own.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as we are all aware, the Internet has 
revolutionized communication and business. Unfortunately, it also 
provides a new tool for some very traditional villains: child 
molesters. While it is already a Federal crime to cross State

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lines to sexually molest a minor, in recent years the number of people 
using the Internet to violate this law has skyrocketed. According to a 
report issued to Congress last year by the National Center for Missing 
and Exploited Children, NCMEC, one in five children, aged 10-17, were 
sexually solicited over the Internet in 1999. And from 1998-2000 alone, 
the FBI's cybermolester caseload increased by 550 percent.
  Unfortunately, loopholes in the current law allow some of these 
predators to escape without any real consequences. Because most 
cybermolesters are well-educated, middle-class, and have no previous 
criminal record, many judges are giving them laughably light sentences. 
Ironically, the purveyors of child-pornography receive mandatory ten-
year sentences, but those who use the Internet to meet children and act 
out pornographic fantasies often receive no jail time at all.
  We need to end the double standard that gives lighter sentences to a 
special set of privileged criminals. For this reason, last week I re-
introduced my Cybermolesters Enforcement Act to ensure that these new 
on-line molesters are apprehended and brought to justice. Like last 
year, my bill provides for a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for 
those who abuse the Internet in an effort to sexually abuse America's 
children, but it does not change the maximum sentence provided by 
Federal law.
  This year, the bill contains two additional provisions to help the 
Bureau apprehend these abusers and destroy their disgusting wares. 
First, my bill would allow law enforcement to obtain a Federal wiretap 
on those suspected of committing certain child sexual exploitation 
offenses, such as transmitting computer-generated child pornography, 
enticing a minor to travel for sexual activity, or transporting a minor 
for sexual activity. Adding these offenses to the list of crimes for 
which Federal law enforcement may obtain wiretaps will significantly 
increase the ability of the authorities to detect and interdict those 
who use the Internet to send pornography to minors and then arrange to 
meet them for unlawful sexual activity. As with any other wiretap 
request, though, the government first must demonstrate probable cause 
to the satisfaction of a Federal judge in order to use this important 
tool.
  Second, this year my bill would classify child pornography as 
contraband. Illegal drugs and counterfeit currency are already defined 
as contraband, and child pornography is at least as dangerous to our 
society. Classifying child pornography as contraband would enable law 
enforcement officials to seize it based upon probable cause and destroy 
it automatically after its use as evidence is no longer needed. 
Furthermore, treating this odious material as contraband will likely 
lead to increased cooperation from commercial entities, such as 
Internet service providers, which are unwittingly used by child 
pornographers to store and transmit this disgusting material. Because 
no customer can claim a legitimate property interest in contraband, 
these entities will be free to seize child pornography, delete its 
presence on the Internet, and send the images to law enforcement 
without fear of civil liability from their customers.
  The Cybermolesters Enforcement Act addresses a real and chilling 
threat to our Nation's children. It will support the FBI's ``Innocent 
Images'' program, which is on the front lines of the battle against on-
line pedophiles. Both Ernie Allen, President of the NCMEC, and by John 
Walsh of ``America's Most Wanted'' have endorsed it. ``Predators are 
hiding behind the relative anonymity of the Internet to target 
children,'' said Mr. Allen. ``While we're making enormous progress in 
addressing this problem, it is clear that too many of these cases are 
not being viewed in a serious way by the courts. Senator McConnell's 
bill sends a loud, clear message that enticing children for sexual 
purposes over the Internet is just as illegal and just as dangerous as 
doing it in a shopping mall or playground,'' said Allen. And John Walsh 
notes that ``yesterday's child molesters are today's cybermolesters. 
Senator McConnell's bill is a comprehensive approach to fighting these 
despicable crimes. It helps the FBI track down these criminals, allows 
the Bureau to seize their perverse wares, and makes sure we do not let 
them escape justice.''
  I urge my colleagues to support this initiative, and I ask unanimous 
consent that this article by George Will outlining the problem of 
cybermolesters be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record as follows:

               [From the Washington Post, Jan. 23, 2000]

                               Nasty Work

                          (By George F. Will)

       To visit a crime scene, turn on your computer. Log on to a 
     list of ``bulletin boards'' or real-time chat rooms, which 
     come and go rapidly. Look for names like 
     ``Ilovemuchyoungerf'' (``f'' stands for females) or 
     ``vryvryvrybrlylegal'' or ``Moms'nsons'' or ``likemyung.''
       The Internet, like the telephone and automobile before it, 
     has created new possibilities for crime. Some people wielding 
     computers for criminal purposes are being combated by FBI 
     agents working out of an office park in Calverton, Md.
       The FBI operation, named Innocent Images, targets cyber-
     stalkers seeking sex with children, and traffickers in child 
     pornography. As one agent here says, ``Business is good--
     unfortunately.'' Criminal sexual activity on the Internet is 
     a growth industry.
       In many homes, children are the most competent computer 
     users. They are as comfortable on the Internet as their 
     parents are on the telephone. On the Web, children can be pen 
     pals with the entire world, instantly and at minimal cost. 
     But the world contains many bad people. Parents should take 
     seriously a cartoon that shows two dogs working on computers. 
     One says to the other, ``When you're online, no one knows 
     you're a dog.''
       A child does not know if the person with whom he or she is 
     chatting is another child or a much older person with 
     sinister intentions. The typical person that the agents call 
     a ``traveler''--someone who will cross state lines hoping to 
     have a sexual encounter with a child--is a white male age 25-
     45. He has above-average education--often an advanced degree, 
     and he can find his way around the Internet--and above-
     average income, enabling him to travel. Many ``travelers'' 
     are married.
       But these cyber-stalkers do not know if the person with 
     whom they are chatting is really, as they think, a young boy 
     or girl, or an FBI agent. Some ``travelers'' who thought they 
     had arranged meetings with children have been unpleasantly 
     surprised, arrested, tried and jailed.
       Since the first arrest under Innocent Images in 1995, there 
     have been 487 arrests of ``travelers'' and pornographers, and 
     409 convictions. Most of the 78 nonconvictions are in cases 
     still pending. The conviction rate is above 95 percent. 
     However, the FBI is distressed by light sentences from some 
     judges who justify their leniency by the fact that the 
     offenders are socially upscale and first offenders. 
     (Actually, probably not: How likely is it that they get 
     caught the first time they become predators?) Lenient judges 
     also call the crime ``victimless'' because it is an FBI 
     agent, not a child, receiving the offender's attention.
       Agents are trained to avoid entrapment, and predators 
     usually initiate talk about sexual encounters. But children 
     implicitly raise the subject by visiting such chat rooms. 
     Most children recoil when sexual importunings become overt. 
     (``When you come to meet me, make sure you're not wearing any 
     underwear.'') But some importunings, including gifts and 
     sympathetic conversation about the problems of children, are 
     cunning, subtle and effective.
       Publicity about Innocent Images may deter some predators, 
     but most are driven to risk-taking by obsessions. America 
     Online and other service providers look for suspect chat 
     rooms and close those they spot, but they exist in such 
     rapidly changing profusion that there are always many 
     menacing ones open.
       Digital cameras, and the plunging price of computer storage 
     capacity for downloaded photographs, have made this, so to 
     speak, the golden age of child pornography. The fact that the 
     mere possession of it is a crime does not deter people from 
     finding, in the blizzard of Internet activities, like-minded 
     people to whom they say things like, ``I'm interested in 
     pictures of boys 6 to 8 having sex with adults.''
       A booklet available from any FBI office, ``A Parent's Guide 
     to Internet Safety,'' lists signs that a child might be at 
     risk online. These include the child's being online for 
     protracted periods, particularly at night. Being online like 
     that is the unenviable duty of FBI agents running Innocent 
     Images.
       Each of the FBI's 56 field offices has an officer trained 
     to seek cyber-stalkers and traffickers in child pornography. 
     Ten offices have Innocent Images operations. Agents assigned 
     to Innocent Images can spend as many as 10 hours a day 
     monitoring the sexual sewer that is a significant part of the 
     ``information superhighway.'' So the FBI looks for 
     ``reluctant volunteers'' who, while working, are given 
     psychological tests to see that they are not becoming 
     ``damaged goods.'' Whatever these agents are being paid, they 
     are underpaid.

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