Blackmailing chat room operator jailed for 40 years
THE operator of an online chat room in South Korea was sentenced to 40 years in prison yesterday for blackmailing dozens of women, including minors, into filming sexually explicit video and selling them to others.
The Seoul Central District Court convicted Cho Ju-bin, 24, of violating the laws on protecting minors and organizing a criminal ring, court spokesman Kim Yong Chan said.
The court ruled Cho “used various methods to lure and blackmail a large number of victims into making sexually abusive contents and distributed them to many people for an extended period,” according to Kim. “He particularly disclosed the identities of many victims and inflicted irreparable damages to them.”
Cho has maintained he only cheated victims into making such video but didn’t blackmail or coerce them, forcing some of the victims to testify in court.
Kim said the court decided to isolate Cho from society for a prolonged period in consideration of his attitude and the seriousness and evil influence of his crime. Both Cho and prosecutors, who had requested a life sentence, have one week to appeal.
Cho and seven accomplices were arrested or indicted in June for allegedly producing sexually abusive video of 74 victims, 16 of them minors, and distributing them on the Telegram messaging app where users paid in cryptocurrency to watch them between May 2019 and February 2020.
A prosecutors’ statement called Cho’s group “a criminal ring” of 38 members. Also yesterday, the Seoul court sentenced five of Cho’s accomplices, one of them a 16-year-old, up to 15 years in prison.
When he was shown before the media following his arrest, Cho said “Thank you for stopping the life of a devil ( I) couldn’t stop.”
Cho’s case has triggered intense public uproar and soul-searching in South Korea over a culture that some experts say is too lenient about sexual violence and continuously fails the victims. Millions of Koreans signed petitions urging authorities to release Cho’s identity and investigate not only the organizers, but also participants of the network who paid as much as 1.5 million won ( US$1,360) to see the abusive videos and images.
Police have said at least 124 suspects have been arrested and 18 operators of chat rooms on Telegram and other social media, including Cho, were detained following investigations into similar sexual crimes since late last year.
President Moon Jae-in earlier called for thorough investigation and stern punishment for those operating such chatrooms and their users.
In recent years, South Korea has been struggling to cope with what the government describes as digital sex crimes.