Prosecutors to Strictly Respond to 'Simple Participants' in Digital Sex Crime Chatrooms... Nationwide Female Investigation Chiefs Hold Emergency Video Conference

'Meeting on New Digital Sex Crimes Including Sexual Exploitation' Held
'Digital Sex Crime Special Investigation TF' Formed at Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Seok-jin]

Amid growing public outrage over digital sex crimes, known as the so-called ‘Nth Room incident,’ the prosecution has taken steps to establish strong punishments for these criminals and measures to support victims.

The prosecution recently reviewed similar cases that had been disposed of and decided to promptly establish strengthened case handling standards. They plan to strictly punish not only the creators and operators of digital sex crime chat rooms and active participants but also simple participants.

According to the prosecution on the 25th, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office held a ‘Meeting on Responding to New Types of Digital Sex Crimes such as Sexual Exploitation’ yesterday under the direction of Prosecutor General Yoon. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prosecutor General Koo Bon-seon and attended by senior officials including the heads of the Anti-Corruption and Strong Crime Division, Criminal Division, and Forensic Science Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, as well as the head of the Women and Children Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office.

The prosecution reported that Prosecutor General Yoon instructed, “Crimes violating human rights like this case are anti-civilizational and antisocial crimes against all of us. Concentrate all prosecutorial capabilities to devise multifaceted and fundamental countermeasures.”

Earlier, in his inauguration speech in July last year, Prosecutor General Yoon defined crimes against women and children as a priority for criminal law enforcement and emphasized strong punishment and meticulous protection and support for victims.

Through the meeting, the prosecution decided to have the Criminal Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office act as the control tower, with close cooperation among all divisions of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and frontline offices.

The prosecution has set a policy to strictly respond so that creators and operators of digital sex crime chat rooms, active participants, and even simple participants receive punishments commensurate with their responsibilities.

In particular, they plan to comprehensively review similar cases recently disposed of, including those received and handled since the second half of last year involving the production and distribution of obscene materials using children and adolescents, and to promptly establish strengthened case handling standards through multifaceted legal reviews.

Additionally, to provide practical protection and support for victims, they will devise technical measures to block the spread of illegal videos in cyberspace and cooperate with related agencies.

The prosecution will also pursue the recovery of illegally obtained profits to the end and support investigations of overseas servers through international cooperation such as criminal justice collaboration.

Meanwhile, on the same day in the morning, the prosecution held an emergency video conference chaired by the head of the Criminal Division of the Supreme Prosecutors' Office with heads of Women and Children Crime Investigation Divisions nationwide to convey the Supreme Prosecutors' Office’s directives and discuss response measures.

Furthermore, to strictly deal with cases such as the distribution of illegal sexual exploitation videos, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office formed a ‘Digital Sex Crime Special Investigation Task Force’ jointly composed of four divisions: the Women and Children Crime Investigation Division, the Violent Crime Division, the Crime Proceeds Recovery Division, and the Immigration and Customs Crime Division.

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