Nth room case

The "Nth Room" case[1] (Korean: n번방 사건; Hanja: n番房 事件) is a criminal case involving blackmail, cybersex trafficking,[2] and the spread of sexually exploitative videos via the Telegram app between 2018 and 2020 in South Korea.[3][4] A man nicknamed God God (Korean: 갓갓) sold sexual exploitation videos on Telegram channels and groups.

A copycat crime, known as the "Doctor's Room", (Korean: 박사방; Hanja: 博士房; RR: baksabang) was operated by a man using the screen name Doctor (Korean: 박사; Hanja: 博士; RR: Baksa, later revealed to be Cho Joo-bin,[5]), who is accused of blackmailing dozens of women, forcing them to take sexually exploitative videos, with some involving rape.[6][7][8][9]

The number of confirmed victims is at least 103, including 26 minors.[10][11]

Cases
See also: Rape pornography and Child pornography

"Nth Room"

A user nicknamed "God God" created eight groups simply named after their ordinal numeral (hence the name "Nth Room"), and uploaded sexually exploitative pornography. Another user nicknamed "Watchman" advertised the link to these groups in another Telegram group named "Gotham room".

Doctor's Room

Cho posted part time job offerings on Twitter, seeking to gather personal information from girls who applied.[12] In the "Doctor's Room", the sexually exploitative pornography was distributed via a Telegram chatroom and was only accessible via a cryptocurrency payment. "Doctor", who appeared in July 2019, threatened women and took pictures and videos of them by figuring out their personal information, and then uploading the pictures and videos. When reports first emerged, the person even figured out the personal information of the reporter and released it. In addition, a high school student in Incheon was running various Telegram chatting rooms that distributed child pornography and links for buying drugs and shared tricks for dealing with police investigations.[13][14]

Reports and investigation

In the beginning, when the case became known on male-dominated online communities, a man reported the "Nth Room" case by contacting 112. However, the Police Department did not view it as a credible report and ignored the reports.

In January 2019, the Seoul Shinmun found out by conducting undercover journalism that there was a secret Telegram room that was distributing child pornography. In the same manner, in April 2019, Sisa Journal reported that Telegram was being used as a platform for crime for sharing illegal pictures and videos. On August 12, the Electronic Times was the first press outlet to report the "Nth Room". Since then, the case had brought huge social impact and public fury.[15]

Representative operator Baksa was arrested, but his accomplice and Telegram users who share these videos trade for money are still unknown. While Police Department got the list of people who had bought videos and were investigating, over 5 million people had signed a national petition requesting the South Korean government to disclose the identity of users who have shared in the chatroom.[16] Including all charged users and free users in "Doctor's Room", the total number of members was confirmed to be 15,000. [17]

On March 25, 2020, Korean virtual and cryptocurrency operators agreed to cooperate with authorities in connection with this case, after concluding that the leaders and subscribers of the "Nth Room" paid with virtual currency. By April 27th, almost 40 people were identified from tracing cryptocurrency transfers.[18][19]

Suspects
Nth room case diagram[20]
Nth Room Doctor's Room
Moon ("God God") → Shin ("Kelly") ← Cho ("Doctor")
Kang ("Butta")
Lee ("Igiya")
transferred to modeled after
↑ modeled after ↑ promoted
Second Nth Room Gotham Room
Bae ("Loli Daejang Taebeom") Jeon ("Watchman")

On March 23, 2020, the Seoul Broadcasting System disclosed the identity of the "Doctor's Room" suspect.[21] Cho Joo-bin[22] (Korean: 조주빈)[21] On March 24, following a decision of the Personal Information Disclosure Review Committee of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, an official identity disclosure measure was taken, based on Article 25 of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. This was the first case where an official identity disclosure measure had been taken for a sexual criminal.

Meanwhile, the user with the nickname "Watchman" who was known as the mastermind and the individual who made the "Nth Room" popular was arrested in September 2019. He was revealed as Mr. Jeon, a 38-year-old company worker, who had received a suspended sentence for pornography distribution in the past. Mr. Jeon was indicted on suspicion of operating an Internet site featuring illegal recordings, and a sentence of imprisonment of 3 years and 6 months by the prosecution. However, since it was revealed during the trial that there was a connection with the "Nth Room", an application is underway for the resumption of the hearings.

Mr. Shin, the prior operator of "Nth Room", who had inherited it from "God God" was a male in his 30s, who had previously received a suspended sentence for violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses, and was taken into police custody in September 2019. He received a sentence of one-year imprisonment in the first hearing, and since the prosecution did not appeal, it is foreseen that this sentence will become final in the second hearing.

God God claims he will not be caught according to information released to JTBC News. He claims he never uses his own phone and all currency is transferred through gift vouchers so it can't be traced. He has also revealed he is confident that if he abandons his phone, there will be no evidence against him even if he turns himself in. Moon nicknamed God God was arrested and charged in May,[20] and he was detained on 12 May, 2020.[23] His personal information was released on 13 May.[24][25]

Domestic Reactions

Lee In-young, the parliamentary leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, promised, the party will bring the case to parliament.[26] The main opposition United Future Party condemned the case, in which they said that they will forward the case to parliament to prohibit any kind of child pornography.[27] The party also urged the Democratic Party to not just focus on the upcoming general election but to also cooperate with them to forward their bill.[27] Its chairman, Hwang Kyo-ahn, however, created controversy by saying not all suspects involved in the case deserved the same punishment.

The Supreme Court of South Korea also announced its plans to make sentences harsher on digital sex crimes following public outcry.[28]

Gender Relations

South Korean gender profiling lead to the blackmailing of female individuals. For example, in regards to the "Nth room case", females wanting to become models are given job offers through social media leading to them naively taking pornographic imagery of themselves. Users like Cho Joo-bin then blackmail these individuals threatening to release the content to their families.[29]

See also

References
  1. "Telegram sex offender's case sent to prosecution". The Korea Herald. Seoul. Yonhap News Agency. 25 March 2020. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
  2. "Bithumb delists Monero amid Nth room sex scandal". Cryptopolitan. May 16, 2020.
  3. "성착취물 제작‧유포 텔레그램 ｢박사방｣ 운영자 검거" (Press release) (in Korean). Seoul: Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. 20 March 2020. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  4. SHIN Sua (신수아) (Mar 20, 2020). "Distributing pornography by telegram ... 'Dr. Bang' was caught". MBC News (in Korean).
  5. "Face of notorious child porn suspect revealed". The Korea Times. Yonhap News Agency. March 24, 2020.
  6. Laura Bicker (25 March 2020). "Cho Ju-bin: South Korea chatroom sex abuse suspect named after outcry". BBC News.
  7. Min Joo Kim (March 25, 2020). "South Korea identifies suspected leader of sexual blackmail ring after uproar". The Washington Post. Seoul.
  8. Justin McCurry (Mar 25, 2020). "Outrage in South Korea over Telegram sexual abuse ring blackmailing women and girls". Guardian. Tokyo.
  9. Choe Sang-Hun (March 25, 2020). "Suspect Held in South Korean Crackdown on Sexually Explicit Videos". The New York Times. SEOUL, South Korea.
  10. "Ruling party, gov't push for abolishing statute of limitations for child sex crime". Yonhap News Agency. 6 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
  11. media, Follow meYuexin LiA digital; ofSheffield, society student studying at the University (2020-03-27). "South Korean "The Nth Room": Digital Sex Offenses Sprawls Along Social Media". The Organization for World Peace. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  12. 신수아 (2020-03-20). "텔레그램으로 음란물 유포…'박사방' 붙잡혔다". MBC NEWS (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  13. "N번방 유력 운영자 검거된 와중에도…"제2·제3 N번방 여전"". KBS 뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  14. 이재현 (2020-03-24). "'갓갓' 모방 '제2n번방' 운영자 또 있다…닉네임 '로리대장태범'". 연합뉴스 (in Korean). Retrieved 2020-04-12.
  15. "Sex crime chat room ignites public fury". Seoul. Yonhap News Agency. Mar 23, 2020.
  16. "텔레그램 n번방 용의자 신상공개 및 포토라인 세워주세요". Petitions to Blue House (in Korean). The official website of the Republic of Korea · Office of the President (Cheong Wa Dae). Mar 18, 2020.
  17. "Doctor's Room has 15,000 members, Police Department "Most identificated."". The Dong-a Ilbo (in Korean). The Dong-a Ilbo. Mar 30, 2020.
  18. "South Korean Police Trace 40 People Behind Crypto Payments In Child Porn Ring". Cointelegraph. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  19. "[단독] 극단적 선택 '박사방' 회원 가상화폐 지불내역 확인". 연합뉴스TV (in Korean). 2020-04-27. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  20. "성착취 'n번방' 개설자 '갓갓' 검거…20대 남성(종합)".
  21. KIM Sangmin (김상민) (23 March 2020). "[단독] '박사방' 운영자 신상 공개…25살 조주빈". SBS News (in Korean). Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  22. "Suspect in South Korea sex blackmail case identified amid outcry". Reuters. 2020-03-25. Retrieved 2020-04-28.
  23. "n번방 설계자 '갓갓' 구속영장 발부..."도주 우려"".
  24. "'n번방' 개설자 '갓갓' 신상공개…24살 문형욱".
  25. "Police unveil identity of key suspect in Telegram sex crime case".
  26. HA Ellena (하정연) (11 February 2020). "민주당 "텔레그램 N번방 사건 입법, 국민께 약속"". Seoul Economic Daily (in Korean). Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  27. HONG Suhyeong (홍수형) (20 March 2020). "[포토] "성착취 N번방 처벌 미래통합당이 앞장"". The Women's News (in Korean). Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  28. "Top court to make sentencing guidelines for digital sex offenses". koreatimes. 2020-04-21. Retrieved 2020-04-29.
  29. "The Nth Room case and modern slavery in the digital space". www.lowyinstitute.org. Retrieved 2020-05-08.
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