'Jo Joo-bin Accomplice' Former Geoje City Hall Official "Some Videos Were Filmed with Mutual Consent"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] Cheon Mo (29, detained), a former Grade 8 public official at Geoje City Hall, Gyeongnam, who was identified as an accomplice of Jo Joo-bin (24), who was arrested and indicted for producing and distributing sexual exploitation materials in the Telegram chatroom 'Baksa Bang,' has reversed his previous position of admitting all charges.

Cheon's lawyer stated at the second trial on charges of violating the Juvenile Protection Act (production and distribution of obscene materials, etc.) held on the 12th at the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 30 (Presiding Judge Lee Hyun-woo), "Some videos were filmed with mutual consent," and "It is doubtful whether they can be considered child pornography, so some charges are denied."

Cheon's side had admitted all charges at the first trial last month. However, at the resumed trial a month later, they indicated an intention to dispute some of the charges.

The lawyer also objected to some of the prosecution's evidence. The evidence in question consisted of messenger chat data related to Cheon's criminal charges, which was claimed to have been edited unfavorably against the defendant.

As Cheon's side objected to some evidence, the prosecution applied to call the victim related to that evidence as a witness. The court accepted the prosecution's request and decided to conduct witness examination on the 26th.

Cheon was brought to trial on charges of filming sexual exploitation videos targeting several women, including minors. He is also charged with possession of child and youth pornography.

The prosecution is conducting additional investigations into the conspiracy relationship between Cheon and Jo. When the prosecution indicted Jo on 14 charges on the 13th of last month, they did not indict Cheon together, stating that it was difficult to consider him an accomplice.

Currently, the prosecution views Jo and his accomplices as an "organic coalition" that divides and performs four roles: ▲searching and luring victims ▲producing sexual exploitation materials ▲distributing sexual exploitation materials ▲withdrawing profits from sexual exploitation, and is considering applying charges of organizing a criminal group.

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