Prosecution Indicts Jo Joo-bin and Two Accomplices on 14 Charges Excluding Criminal Organization Offense (Comprehensive Report 2)

Yoo Hyun-jung, head of the Digital Sex Crime Special Investigation Task Force at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor of the Female and Child Crime Investigation Department), is briefing on the indictment and detention of Cho Ju-bin, the operator of the "Doctor's Room," on the 13th at the press room of the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporters Seokjin Choi and Hyungmin Kim] The prosecution indicted Jo Joo-bin (24, in custody), the operator of the "Baksa Room," on the 13th.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office Digital Sex Crime Special Investigation Task Force (led by Chief Prosecutor Hyunjung Yoo) indicted Jo on charges including production and distribution of child and youth pornography under the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse, forcible molestation, coercion of child prostitution, attempted rape and similar sexual acts against children and juveniles, filming using cameras under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, forcible molestation, and violation of the Personal Information Protection Act.

Jo is accused of threatening 25 female victims, including children and juveniles, from May last year to February this year, to film sexually exploitative videos and selling and distributing them through the Telegram "Baksa Room." Among the confirmed victims, eight were children and juveniles, and 17 were adults. Police and prosecutors confirmed that Jo created and operated as many as 38 Baksa Rooms.

He is also accused of threatening victim A (15 years old) in October last year by threatening to distribute nude videos, then ordering accomplices to attempt sexual assault and engage in similar sexual acts.

The prosecution applied 14 charges against Jo. A prosecution official explained, "Among the 12 charges applied by the police when transferring the case, the charge of conspiracy to murder was changed to attempted fraud because it was difficult to see that Jo had the actual intent to kill."

Additionally, "During the prosecution investigation, additional charges of forcible molestation under the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse and false accusation were added for victims whose personal information was newly identified, bringing the total number of charges in the indictment to 14," the official added.

The prosecution also requested seizure preservation of 15 virtual currency wallets owned by Jo, as well as securities deposits and stocks, and requested confiscation preservation of 130 million won in cash seized.

Furthermore, the prosecution indicted accomplices Kang Mo (24, social service worker) and Lee Mo (16, student), who were already in custody and brought to trial, without detention on the same charges as Jo.

The prosecution recognized the conspiracy between Kang and Jo and applied five charges including threats and forcible molestation against Kang. Kang is accused of luring victims under Jo's instructions and paying Jo 4 million won to commission the murder of a high school homeroom teacher's daughter (preparation for murder, etc.). Another accomplice, Lee, was charged with filming using cameras under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act and production and distribution of obscene materials.

The highly anticipated charge of organizing a criminal group has not yet been included in the indictment as legal review and related investigations are not yet complete.

However, the prosecution plans to decide on additional indictments after securing further testimonies and evidence to apply the charge of organizing a criminal group through supplementary investigations. Investigations into other crimes such as concealment of criminal proceeds will also continue.

A prosecution official stated, "We have confirmed that the indicted accomplices had some division of roles. Although there are still matters to review, we believe that after actively investigating additional accomplices and confirming other crimes, it will be possible to apply the charge of organizing a criminal group."

Among the three accomplices identified as operating the Baksa Room with Jo, Kang Mo (19, known as "Buda"), who is accused of managing members and delivering profits to Jo, is under police custody, and Lee Mo (20, known as "Igiya"), accused of distributing and promoting sexually exploitative videos hundreds of times, is under military prosecution custody. The remaining accomplice, "Samagwi," has not yet been apprehended.

The prosecution official also stated, "We support the 'right to be forgotten' by deleting victim videos detected through an illegal filming detection system and assisting with name changes and resident registration number changes if victims wish. Based on the issues identified through this investigation, we proposed legal amendments to expand the disclosure of sex offender information and introduce an emergency deletion system for child sexual exploitation materials."

He added, "We hope this investigation will provide youth with the wisdom to discern the dark intentions hidden behind the anonymity of social networking services (SNS), raise awareness of 'sexual exploitation video crimes' not only among investigative agencies but throughout society, and serve as an opportunity to devise fundamental countermeasures."

Meanwhile, the court receiving the cases of Jo and others plans to assign the trial before the general election. Although case assignments are usually done randomly via electronic allocation, considering the importance of the case, it is expected to be assigned to one of the four collegiate panels at the Seoul Central District Court that specialize in sex crime cases.

Jo and the indicted accomplices are likely to be tried together. The prosecution indicted them with a single indictment to request a joint trial. They also plan to request the court handling other accomplices' ongoing trials to consolidate the hearings.

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