Police Confirm Some Content on Jo Joo-bin's 'iPhone'... "No Criminal Suspicion Yet"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungyoon Song and Jeongyoon Lee] The police have reviewed some contents from the iPhone model mobile phone of Jo Joo-bin (24), who is accused of producing sexually exploitative materials and distributing them on the Telegram 'Baksa Bang'. However, no meaningful clues emerged from this. The police are intensifying their analysis, believing that important evidence related to the crime is contained in the Galaxy S9 model phone that Jo had hidden in his home sofa.

According to a summary of Asia Economy's coverage on the 14th, the police confirmed some contents of the Apple 'iPhone 11 Pro' model mobile phone that Jo had recently used by inserting the SIM card from his phone into a dummy device. Through this, the police secured Jo's KakaoTalk messenger data and stored contacts.

After being sent to the prosecution, Jo remained silent about the passwords of the two phones he had used until recently during the investigation process, but recently confessed the password of one of the iPhone models. However, since he only revealed part of the password, the police were unable to unlock the phone. A police official said, "We confirmed some contents of the phone and KakaoTalk by inserting the SIM card, but since the information remaining on the SIM is limited, we have not yet found any meaningful clues."

On the 25th of last month, the Digital Sex Crime Special Investigation Headquarters plaque ceremony was held at the Seoul Seodaemun-gu Police Agency North Building. / Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

On the 16th of last month, the police arrested Jo and seized about 20 digital devices including nine mobile phones, laptops, PCs, and USBs during a search of his residence. Among the nine phones, no evidence related to Jo's crimes was found on seven. The remaining two phones that he had used until recently were an iPhone and Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S9. After the case was transferred to the prosecution, the police have been conducting digital forensic work on these two phones.

Since Jo was sent to the prosecution on the 25th of the same month, he had been reluctant to disclose the passwords of these two phones until recently. Jo was in possession of the iPhone at the time of the search, and the Galaxy S9 was reportedly hidden in the sofa. The police suspect that the Galaxy S9, which Jo tried to conceal until the end, contains materials related to his crimes.

The police plan to begin analysis as soon as they unlock the Galaxy S9, along with the iPhone, of which some contents have already been confirmed. If successful, more specific facts such as the conspiracy relationship between Jo and his accomplices in the 'Baksa Bang' case and the identities of paid members are expected to become clearer. Jo is known to have testified to the investigative authorities that the passwords of the two phones were long and he could not remember them exactly. This is presumed to be the reason why he only revealed part of the iPhone password.

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