[n번방 1 Year Later, After That] "If Not Caught, It's Not a Crime"... The Ns Evolving by Switching Platforms

[n번방 1 Year Later - Part 2]

Sharing of Sexual Exploitation Materials Related to Baksa Room
Telegram Chat Rooms Still Crowded
4,000 Members Enter Discord Messenger
SNS Still Used as Distribution Channels
Sharing Investigation Techniques to Evade Crackdowns
"Immediate Public-Private Cooperation and Blocking System Needed"

Photo by Getty Images Bank

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungyoon Song and Jeongyun Lee] More than a year has passed since the truth of the 'n-bunbang incident' was revealed to the world, but the nth 'n-bunbang' still exists today. Although related individuals were caught one after another, causing chat rooms related to sexual exploitation materials or distribution activities to temporarily disappear, they have hidden in more secretive places and continue their criminal activities by switching platforms. They parasitize like poisonous mushrooms everywhere, taking advantage of the lack of social interest.

Distribution activities were still taking place on Telegram, the secure messenger identified as the main culprit of the n-bunbang incident. In a Telegram group chat examined on the 3rd, sexual exploitation materials and illegal recordings related to the problematic Baksa-bang were frequently posted. Compressed files combining various obscene materials were openly circulated. The chat room had over 1,800 participants. Some of them showed insensitivity to sexual crimes, saying things like "If you don't get caught, it's not a crime" and "Is watching videos a crime?"

Sexual exploitation materials were also easily shared on 'Discord,' a messenger used for gaming. In one chat room with over 4,000 participants, sexual exploitation materials and photos believed to be illegally recorded were exchanged in real time. It was common to trade 'materials' with each other. Another Discord chat room operated on a system where participants could enter by paying an entrance fee of about 20,000 to 40,000 won. This was a replica of the sexual exploitation material chat rooms that were problematic during the n-bunbang incident. Similar chat rooms also exist on KakaoTalk, a messenger widely used in daily life.

Other social networking services (SNS) are also used as intermediaries for sexual exploitation material distribution chat rooms. Recently, large amounts of links to sexual exploitation material sharing chat rooms and sexual exploitation materials were posted in secret Facebook groups. New platforms such as 'OnlyFans' are also being misused as new distribution channels for sexual exploitation materials. OnlyFans is a system where users pay to subscribe to private content posted by each account, and it has recently been frequently used for this purpose.

While large-scale sexual exploitation material production activities like those in n-bunbang or Baksa-bang have not yet surfaced, sexual exploitation materials are continuously distributed and reproduced in such places. They also share methods to avoid arrest by understanding police crackdowns and investigation techniques.

Professor Geonsu Lee of the Department of Police Science at Baekseok University said, "The extent of damage is widespread, and it is difficult to reverse or trace the damage once it occurs, which is a characteristic of digital sexual crimes," adding, "From a policy perspective, a system should be established through public-private cooperation to immediately block problematic behavior, and punishment regulations and victim support measures need to be made more thorough."

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