Acquitted on criminal organization charges — court finds group lacked sufficient organizational structure
A woman in her 30s who served as a "missionary" in a Telegram-based child sex exploitation ring known as "Jagyeongdan," or the "vigilante group," had her five-year prison sentence confirmed by the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court's Third Division, presided over by Justice Oh Seok-jun, on Thursday upheld the lower court's five-year prison sentence for a 36-year-old woman surnamed Jo. She had been indicted on charges including violations of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Abuse — specifically the production and distribution of sexual exploitation material — and violations of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes related to filming using cameras and similar devices.
Seven-year bans on employment at institutions serving children, youth and people with disabilities, along with a three-year probation order, were also upheld.
The vigilante group operated by identifying personal information of women who posted body photos or sought paid dates on Telegram channels and groups, as well as men attempting to access Telegram rooms sharing explicit videos or content degrading acquaintances. Members then threatened to expose that information unless victims sent nude photos and other material, which the group used to produce and distribute sexual exploitation content — and in some cases to carry out actual sexual assaults. Many of the victims were minors, including children and teenagers.
Jo was tried separately on charges of producing sexual exploitation material within the group and quasi-raping male children and youth. She, too, was drawn into the crimes after Kim Nok-wan threatened to distribute her own body photos.
Between September and December 2023, Jo conspired with Kim Nok-wan to obtain a total of 87 nude photos from seven victims, producing child and youth sexual exploitation material and committing acts of sexual abuse against children. She also threatened to leak victims' photos unless they sent written apologies and photos of their student ID cards.
Both the first and second trials found Jo guilty on most charges, including violations of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Abuse, and sentenced her to five years in prison.
She was acquitted, however, on charges of joining and participating in a criminal organization. Courts found it difficult to conclude that the vigilante group had the organizational structure required to qualify as a criminal organization under the Criminal Act.
The second-instance court explained that the other participants "were all individuals who had been threatened or sexually exploited by Kim Nok-wan and others, and merely carried out assigned roles for a period — such as connecting other victims to Kim Nok-wan." It added that it was unclear whether members with identifiable positions and roles constituted "a specific plurality amounting to a group."
The appellate court nonetheless rejected Jo's claim that she had been "used merely as a tool under Kim Nok-wan's coercion," finding her to be a co-conspirator.
The court acknowledged that Jo had joined the crimes after being threatened with the distribution of her own nude photos, but said complying with Kim's demands was not the only or effective means of preventing that distribution. The court found she had ample opportunity to take reasonable steps to protect herself.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed that the lower court's reasoning contained no error and dismissed the appeal.
The Supreme Court noted that the case involved digital sex crimes committed by Kim Nok-wan, who around early 2020 came across news coverage of the so-called "Nth Room" case and replicated the methods used in those offenses. Thursday's ruling marked the first time the Supreme Court had sentenced anyone involved in the vigilante group case.
The vigilante group case had 261 victims — more than three times the 73 victims in the similar "Doctor's Room" Telegram case. Kim Nok-wan and his associates produced more than 2,000 pieces of sexual exploitation material.
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