Police Launch Special Investigation Unit for 'Digital Sexual Crimes' Response... "Firm Action"

Police Chief Min Gap-ryong Responds to National Petition on 'Telegram Nth Room'
Special Crackdown on Four Major Distribution Channels Including Telegram Extended Until Year-End
Expansion of Dedicated Investigation Personnel and Enhancement of Expertise

Commissioner Min Gap-ryong of the National Police Agency. / Photo by Kang Jin-hyeong aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-ju] Amid nationwide outrage over the Telegram 'n번방' (n-room) case involving the sexual exploitation of minors, the police are forming a special investigation headquarters to respond to such digital sex crimes and launching a large-scale investigation.

On the afternoon of the 24th, Police Commissioner Min Gap-ryong responded to five Blue House petitions related to the Telegram 'n번방' case, stating, "As the head of the police who must protect the lives of the people, I empathize with the public's concerns and anger over digital sex crimes, and I will strongly eradicate digital sex crimes so that they can no longer take root in our society."

The police will first establish the 'Digital Sex Crime Special Investigation Headquarters' with the head of the Cyber Safety Bureau of the National Police Agency as the chief and immediately begin operations. The special investigation headquarters will incorporate all related functions, including investigation execution, investigation guidance and support, international cooperation, digital forensics, victim protection, and gender-sensitivity education for investigators, and will also build a collaborative system with related organizations and groups.

The 'Special Crackdown on the Four Major Distribution Channels of Cyber Sexual Violence,' which began on the 10th of last month and was scheduled to run until the end of June, will be extended until the end of the year. The four major distribution channels refer to social network services (SNS) such as Telegram, as well as the dark web, webhard, and pornographic sites. As of today, the police have arrested a total of 124 individuals, including 28 operators and accomplices of digital sex crime chat rooms on Telegram and 96 suspects involved in the distribution and possession of child sexual exploitation materials, with 18 of them detained. Among them is Jo Joo-bin (24), the operator of the 'Doctor's Room,' whose identity has been publicly disclosed.

Furthermore, to investigate overseas servers, international cooperation will be strengthened with foreign investigative agencies such as the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO/Interpol), the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), as well as global IT companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. In particular, criminal proceeds uncovered through crackdowns will be confiscated using the 'pre-indictment seizure preservation' system and reported to the National Tax Service to facilitate tax investigations.

Additionally, to enhance crackdown and investigation capabilities, personnel for the 'Cyber Sexual Violence Dedicated Investigation Teams' in local police agencies nationwide will be expanded, and specialized investigators will be assigned to the 'Tracking Investigation Support Task Force' established within the Cyber Investigation Division of the National Police Agency. Through this, specialized investigative techniques such as dark web and virtual currency tracking will be developed to strengthen investigative expertise. Alongside the advancement of the police-developed 'Illegal Filming Material Tracking System,' international cooperative systems such as Interpol's 'Child Sexual Exploitation Material Database' will be actively utilized to monitor illegal filming materials in real-time and promptly block and delete them to prevent secondary damage.

The police also promised a strict investigation into the ongoing Telegram 'n번방' case. Commissioner Min said, "We will deploy all police capabilities to thoroughly investigate not only the arrested operator Jo Joo-bin but also accomplices, video producers, and those who possessed and distributed sexual exploitation videos," emphasizing, "With the determination to completely eradicate these heinous crimes, we promise once again to pursue and arrest all producers, distributors, as well as participants and accomplices using all means."

Meanwhile, five Blue House petitions related to the Telegram n번방 have exceeded the response threshold of 200,000 signatures, including the petition 'Please disclose the identities of the Telegram n번방 suspects and hold a photo line,' which garnered 2.56 million signatures. The total number of participants in these petitions exceeds 5 million.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.