videopokertutor| South Korea explodes again "Room N" scandal, and folk women's groups make another great contribution

Interface News reporter | Chen Shenglong

Interface News Editor | Liu Haichuan

There has been another scandal similar to the "Room N" incident in South Korea, where the main members of the five male suspects are alumni of Seoul University.

The "Room N" incident was first exposed in 2020. Criminals distribute illegally filmed obscene images in encrypted chat rooms on the social software Telegram and charge chat room members with the same hobby. Most of the 74 female victims were minors. The two principal criminals, Zhao Zhubin and Wen Hengxu, have been sentenced to 34 years and 15 years in prison respectively.

According to South Korean media such as the Central Daily, 61 female victims have been confirmed in the new case, including 12 students or graduates from Seoul University. The five-member team is suspected of producing and spreading pornographic photos or videos synthesized through "deep forgery" technology from July 2021 to April this year. This period comes at a time when South Korea is still angry about the "Room N" incident.

According to the Cyber Crime investigation Unit of the Seoul Local Police Bureau, the principal criminal, Park (40), met during more than a decade of studying at Seoul University.VideopokertutorThe victims used their graduation photos and social media avatars to synthesize 1852 face-changing pornographic photos and videos and spread about 100 pornographic documents.

At the time of the case, another accomplice surnamed Kang, 31, was still studying at Seoul University and had graduated. He is responsible for providing the "face-changing video" of female classmates to Park, who adds the identity information of the victims and uploads them to the chat room, including their names and ages.

Police say the five suspects set up about 200 Telegram chat rooms during the four years of the crime, sent synthetic images directly to the victims and committed "sexual exploitation". Police said they would expand the scope of the investigation to catch more accomplices involved in the production and dissemination of illegal documents.

The "Room N" incident shocked South Korea. The main culprit, Moon Hyong-wook, was studying at Han Kyung University when he was arrested, while Zhao Zhubin was a graduate of a technical college in Seoul. As many as 260000 users have participated in sharing illegal communication materials. After the latest case came to light, Seoul University promised to set up a special team to protect victims and to formulate measures to prevent similar crimes from happening again.

According to the Korean Herald, in the past three years, at least a dozen victims have reported the illegal activities of the gang to the police. The police then launched four investigations, but due to the high degree of privacy of Telegram, investigators were unable to find clues to the suspect and valid evidence, so the investigation was concluded.

In December 2023, the South Korean National Police Agency ordered a new investigation. Like the "Room N" five years ago, the female folk duo "tracking Group Spark" helped the police catch the suspect quickly.

Won Eunji, a member of the tracking team Spark, disguised as a male, sneaked into the Telegram chat room for two years and got in touch with Park and made an appointment to meet him in Seoul's Guanyue district on April 3 this year. Police later arrested him.

The public outrage in South Korea in 2020 triggered a series of "anti-N room legislation". These include raising the right of minor independent decision-making from 13 to 16 in the Amendment to the Criminal Law, and listing the person in charge of communications service providers as responsible for preventing the circulation of illegal video.

Nevertheless, the relevant legislation does not seem to have achieved good results, and the number of cyber crimes reported in the country is still on the rise. According to a report released by the Ministry of gender Equality and Family in 2023, 8983 victims of cybercrime sought help that year, an increase of 1004 over 2022.