Seoul, 14 October | South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday approved a 42-year prison sentence for Cho Ju-bin, the mastermind of the infamous online sex blackmail ring.
The top court also confirmed a lower court’s order that Cho would have to wear the electronic bracelet for 30 years, paying $100 million ($90,000) to work at children’s facilities for 10 years after his release. The ban would be imposed and the details would be made public for 10 years, reports his private Yonhap news agency.
Cho was charged in April last year with 38 accomplices of organizing a criminal gang, blackmailing 74 minor and adult victims into filming pornographic material and distributing sexual abuse material to members of pay-to-view Telegram chat rooms It was called Buxbang.
The 25-year-old was also accused of concealing nearly 108 million won in criminal proceeds.
Cho committed his online sex crimes from March 2019 to February 2020 before being arrested by police on March 16, 2020.
A district court sentenced him to 45 years behind bars but an appellate court reduced his prison sentence to 42 years.
Cho pleaded guilty to allegations of producing and distributing sexual abuse material, claiming that Baxbang was not a criminal ring and that some evidence from prosecutors was illegally collected.
But the Supreme Court rejected his appeal.
Last year, the country was stunned by a series of sexual abuse cases centered on group chat rooms of Telegram messenger service, including Baksabang, prompting the government to announce tougher measures against digital sex crimes.
Law enforcement officials have since vowed to punish buyers, advertisers and those possessing sexually exploitative material of children and youth, as well as their producers and sellers, and to treat any production of digital sexual material as a felony. .
Source: IANS