Censors seize smuggled porn HANOI - The notoriously rigid censors have turned their watchful eye on one of their own. A senior director of Vietnam's state publications importer, Xunhasaba, has been caught illegally bringing pornographic material into the communist-ruled nation, authorities said yesterday. Tran Quoc Van was dismissed as director of the Ho Chi Minh City office of Xunhasaba on Monday after customs officers discovered half a tonne of pornographic books hidden in a 13-tonne shipment of children's books and other publications. "He imported some no-good books," said Ha Trieu Kien, Xunhasaba's Hanoi-based general director, "and our laws on publication are very strong." Van had abused his position as city director of Vietnam's only licensed publications importer to try to bring in thousands of sexually explicit books from South Korea and Singapore. Customs agents said the books contained "nude sexual drawings" - thought to mean the gekiga style of sexually explicit and violent comic books popular in Japan and South Korea. Investigators are looking into the matter and have yet to issue an announcement, but Mr Kien did not rule out the possibility of a prison term for Van. Xunhasaba, which is controlled by the Ministry of Culture and Information, is responsible for censoring the content of all imported publications and occasionally blacks out or excises articles in foreign periodicals which Hanoi authorities deem inappropriate. Vietnam views pornography as a "social evil" and crackdowns are routine. Officials say this is the first time the state importer has been found to have smuggled pornography into the country. "This event has badly affected Xunhasaba's prestige," said Nguyen Ngoc Thang, the agency's deputy director. Most of Vietnam's state-controlled dailies reported the story yesterday. It would have been far worse, Mr Thang noted, if the books had slipped out of the port and into circulation. Mr Kien said the books will be burned, but according to Mr Thang the decision on what to do with the haul will be made after investigators finish their work. Vietnam faces a daunting censorship task, particularly with the increase of Internet use in the country. The nation uses an elaborate firewall system in an attempt to block access to pornography as well as Web sites critical of Hanoi's communist rule. Officials have also voiced alarm over a budding home-grown pornography industry, although they concede that it is far less developed compared to Japan or South Korea. By Michael Mathes - South China Morning Post - July 6, 2000.