Kim Nok-wan, 33, the ringleader of the largest Telegram sex crime ring to date, "Self-Justice League," was sentenced to life in prison in the first trial.
The Seoul Central District Court Criminal Agreement Division 26 (presiding judge Lee Hyun-gyeong, Director General judge) on the 24th sentenced Kim, who was indicted on charges including organizing and participating in a criminal organization, producing and distributing sexual exploitation materials and illegal recordings, coercing the use of illegal recordings, and quasi-rape, to life in prison. The court also ordered that information about Kim be disclosed on the information and communications network for 10 years, imposed a 10-year employment restriction, and ordered 30 years of electronic monitoring. Prosecutors had sought life in prison for Kim at the sentencing hearing in September.
The court said, "(Kim Nok-wan) said in court that he is remorseful, but over the past four to five years he has committed countless crimes," and explained the sentencing by saying, "Given the brutality of the crimes and the lack of restitution for victims, there is a need to permanently isolate him from society."
Kim was accused of running the Telegram-based sex crime ring "Self-Justice League" and committing various acts of sexual exploitation. From May 2020 to January this year, he produced sexual exploitation materials indiscriminately targeting men and women, with the number of victims confirmed to reach 261. That is more than three times the number of victims, 73, in the "Doctor's Room" case run by Cho Joo-bin in the past. It is the largest number of victims in a cybersexual exploitation case in Korea.
Kim also allegedly threatened victims to make them act as perpetrators of other crimes. Women who posted sexual content on social media (SNS) or men who attempted sex crimes such as so-called "abusing acquaintances" were the main targets of his threats. According to the court, he not only sexually exploited them but also threatened them to recruit new victims, producing a large number of additional victims.
In the process, Kim referred to himself as a "pastor" and assigned organizational titles such as "evangelist" to members, carrying out the crimes systematically. He is said to have become enamored with such titles after watching the Netflix drama Narco-Saints.
Kim also raped 16 victims. Fourteen of them were children or adolescents. He also filmed the commission of the crimes. He further produced about 1,700 child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials targeting about 70 victims, and when victims refused to recruit others, he distributed about 260 child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials by posting them on SNS.
The court said, "(Kim) sent the victim's sex video to the victim's father through an accomplice, and even went to the victim's workplace to make repeated threats; the methods of crime shown throughout this case were also extremely brutal and malicious."
Ten accomplices who were brought to trial with Kim were sentenced to prison terms of two to four years. The court said it took into account that they were first-time offenders; that five of the 10 defendants were juveniles and the others were relatively young, having only just passed the juvenile threshold; and that they became involved in the crimes due to Kim's threats.
However, the court acquitted Kim of the charge of organizing a criminal group that prosecutors had applied. The court said, "The involvement of the other suspects besides Kim in the crimes stemmed from Kim's threats," and added, "It is difficult to conclude that they formed a continuing association with the common purpose of committing crimes together." Accordingly, the defendants other than Kim were also acquitted of the charge of participating in a criminal organization.