Vigilante Group Revealing 'n번방' Identities Also Under Police Investigation "Concerns Over Secondary Harm"

Sharing Personal Information of Suspected Participants in Nth Room Including The Scarlet Letter and Central Intelligence Agency
Police: "High Risk of Privacy Invasion... Investigating to Prevent Secondary Damage"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] Investigations will also be conducted into vigilante groups that spread personal information of suspected criminals related to the so-called ‘n번방’ (Nth Room) case, in which sexually exploitative materials were produced and distributed through social network services (SNS) such as Telegram.

The National Police Agency’s Special Investigation Headquarters on Digital Sex Crimes held a briefing at the police headquarters on the 2nd and announced this. A police official explained, “There are significant concerns about privacy violations in the activities of these vigilante groups, so we are examining the matter in detail.”

The Telegram chat room called Juhonggeulssi, considered a representative vigilante group, currently discloses criminal circumstances and personal information of about 200 suspects linked to the Nth Room case. Sensitive information such as names, ages, addresses, resident registration numbers, mobile phone numbers, occupations, and photos are shared with more than 10,000 chat participants. The police have identified that there are many other chat rooms with similar functions to Juhonggeulssi.

The police view these vigilante groups strictly as subjects of investigation and nothing more. Photos of victims, as well as photos of family and friends of suspected criminals, are also posted, and the accuracy of identifying specific individuals as suspects may be questionable. If innocent people are labeled as criminals and their personal information is spread, it constitutes defamation based on false information.

A police official pointed out, “A considerable amount of personal information is posted in vigilante Telegram chat rooms,” adding, “They voluntarily disclose personal information, and in the process, existing victims are sometimes mentioned as well, raising concerns about secondary damage.”

Previously, vigilante groups briefly gained public sympathy for punishing digital sex offenders, but secondary damage has also been severe. There have been many cases where victims’ personal information and photos were exposed without filtering, and some photos were only deleted after certain media outlets raised issues about secondary harm.

In addition, in November last year, a post circulated claiming that a high-ranking active-duty police official had joined the Nth Room but left after his identity was revealed, with his affiliation and photo also shared. However, the official in question and the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency stated that they were victims of identity theft and personal information hacking. Similar complaints led to an internal investigation, which was reportedly closed without charges.

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