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A South Korean court sentenced the leader on Monday Telegram sex crime ring Life imprisonment for exploiting at least 261 people.
Kim Nok Wan, 33, aka “Pastor,” created a Telegram channel called “The Vigilantes” in 2020 and forced victims, about 150 of whom were minors, to produce explicit content through blackmail and then distributed the content in online chat rooms.
His group operated under a pyramidal hierarchy, which encouraged members to recruit new victims or share abusive material in order to climb the ranks.
Between May 2020 and January 2025, the network exploited 261 people, making it the world’s largest known online sexual exploitation ring. south koreatriple the scale of a The previous ring operated by Cho Joo Bin was called “Doctor’s Room”,
The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Kim to life in prison after pleading guilty to organizing and operating a criminal organization, illegally producing and distributing filmed sexual exploitation material, and committing “quasi-rape,” which is defined as sexually assaulting a person while they are unconscious, or otherwise unable to resist.
The court said Kim claimed to be remorseful, “but he has committed countless crimes over the past four to five years”.
“Taking into account the brutality of the crimes and the lack of compensation for the victims,” she ruled, “it is necessary to permanently isolate him from society.”
The court ordered details of Kim’s crimes to be made public on information and communications networks for 10 years, imposed a 10-year employment ban on him, and mandated 30 years of electronic surveillance.
It said Kim raped 16 victims, including 14 minors, and produced more than 1,700 pieces of child and teen sexual abuse material. chosun news,
He sent a victim’s video to his father through a colleague and threatened to release it at his workplace. “The manner of the crimes were extremely cruel and gruesome,” the court said. “Since similar crimes are increasing rapidly in our society, the need for stringent punishment is important.”
The court ruled, “He committed countless crimes, and most of the victims have never recovered from the harm.”
In 2020, Cho, 25, was sentenced to 40 years in prison For blackmailing at least 74 people, including 16 minor girls, into providing sexually objectionable photographs and videos and hosting chat rooms where at least 10,000 people viewed the explicit material.