A person in their 20s who was sentenced to 10 years in prison at the first trial on charges including producing sexual exploitation materials targeting teenagers and blackmailing their parents had the sentence reduced on appeal.
According to legal sources on the 4th, the Criminal Division 2 of the Suwon High Court (High Court Judges Kim Gun-woo, Lim Jae-nam, and Seo Jeong-hee) overturned the lower court's sentence of 10 years in prison in the appeal of defendant A, who was indicted on charges including producing and distributing sexual exploitation materials, and sentenced A to six years in prison. The court also ordered 40 hours of sex offender treatment and a five-year employment restriction at institutions related to children, teenagers, and people with disabilities.
The court said, "Given the circumstances, content, methods of the crimes, and the victims' ages, the nature of the offenses is poor and there is a high degree of blame," and noted, "There is no material showing steps were taken to remedy the harm or to seek forgiveness, and despite not being forgiven by the victims, the defendant denies the crimes and does not engage in sincere self-reflection."
However, the court explained the grounds for mitigation, saying, "Considering that the defendant has no prior criminal record and is young, and that releasing the defendant back into society after an appropriate period of reformation appears more effective for preventing recidivism, the lower court's sentence is recognized as unduly heavy and improper."
In July 2021, A posted a comment on YouTube saying, "I will give you an account with many subscribers for free," then approached four minors, including B, who was 10 at the time and contacted A after seeing the post, and was indicted on charges of filming videos exposing their bodies. A deceived the victims by saying, "If you help test a body temperature measurement app, I will give you the account," had them install a remote-control app on their smartphones, and then committed the crimes, it was found.
A also faces charges of attempting to extort money by threatening the victims' parents, saying, "If you don't pay 1 billion won, I will spread the videos," but the attempt failed after the parents reported it to the police.