Police Arrest Over 2,000 Digital Sex Crime Offenders Including 'Telegram N번방' Cases

1993 Digital Sex Crime Suspects Including Nth Room Arrested
185 Detained, 1052 Cases Closed... 941 Under Investigation
Police Continue Probing Even Simple Possessors

On the 25th, 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@

[Asia Economy Reporter Song Seung-yoon] It has been revealed that the number of digital sex crime offenders arrested by the police so far, including those involved in the so-called 'Telegram n-bang' case, has reached around 2,000.

According to the National Police Agency on the 7th, the Special Investigation Headquarters for Digital Sex Crimes uncovered 1,549 cases of digital sex crimes and arrested 1,993 suspects as of the 3rd. Among those arrested, 185 were detained, 1,052 cases were closed with prosecution recommendations, and investigations are ongoing for 941 suspects.

Among those arrested, 291 were individuals who targeted children and adolescents, produced sexual exploitation materials through threats or coercion, or operated chat rooms distributing such materials. There were 306 distributors and 947 simple possessors. Regarding other digital sex crimes such as deepfakes or illegal recordings excluding sexual exploitation materials, 65 producers and operators were arrested, and 340 distributors were caught. No suspects have been booked solely for possession charges.

The police have arrested most of the main perpetrators and accomplices of the series of 'n-bang cases,' including Moon Hyung-wook (24), the operator of the n-bang, and Cho Ju-bin (24), the operator of the Doctor's Room. In the second half of the year, the police plan to conduct comprehensive investigations even on simple possessors to fundamentally block the demand for digital sex crimes.

The police also secured possessor information through international cooperation with overseas cloud service providers used by Moon Hyung-wook as channels for sharing sexual exploitation materials. Investigations into these individuals are being conducted at police stations nationwide. For other cases with a large number of sexual exploitation material possessors, the police have obtained and are analyzing lists of possessors and others involved.

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