Family Court Sends 'BooTta' Kang Hoon, Accomplice in Doctor's Room Case, to Prosecution on 'Deepfake Distribution' Charges

Kang Hoon, known as 'Buddha,' the co-operator of the Telegram 'Doctor's Room' along with Jo Joo-bin, is being transferred to the prosecution by escort vehicle on the 17th at Jongno Police Station in Seoul. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] Kang Hoon (18), an accomplice of Jo Joo-bin (24, in custody), the operator of the Telegram 'Baksa Bang' who distributed sexual exploitation materials, will have the decision on whether to indict him for distributing deepfake photos reconsidered by the prosecution.

According to the court on the 22nd, Judge Jeon Anna of the Seoul Family Court Juvenile Division 1 returned Kang's juvenile protection case for defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act back to the prosecution on the 17th.

Kang is accused of producing several so-called 'deepfake photos' by synthesizing nude images with photos of a female acquaintance and distributing them on social networking services (SNS) in June of last year.

The prosecution, considering that Kang is a minor, did not bring the case to trial and transferred it to the juvenile division in February.

When a minor is transferred to the juvenile division, the family court juvenile panel can conduct an investigation and impose protective measures such as custody placement or transfer to a juvenile training center.

However, Article 49 of the Juvenile Act stipulates, "If the juvenile division, after investigating or hearing the transferred case, recognizes that the motive and nature of the offense require criminal punishment of imprisonment or more, it may transfer the case to the prosecutor."

The court is interpreted to have considered that, given the nature of Kang's crime, he should be judged guilty or not guilty as a criminal case rather than receiving protective measures.

Meanwhile, Kang is also under prosecution investigation after being detained on charges of recruiting and managing participants in 'Baksa Bang' under the alias 'Butta' on Telegram and delivering criminal proceeds to Jo in connection with this case.

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