He blackmailed dozens of young women into providing sexually compromising images and videos, which he sold to tens of thousands of his users. Authorities say he and his collaborators, including a 16-year-old boy, ran the operation through secretive chatrooms on the app Telegram. They hunted for prey through social media and reaped their profits through the cryptocurrency bitcoin.
Cho – who also called himself “CEO Park” – was sentenced to 40 years in prison on Thursday. Prosecutors had sought a life term. Others accused of conspiring with him to recruit and threaten the victims, advertise the chatrooms and monetise the profits received sentences ranging from seven to 15 years.
“My aim was, how can I be even more extreme, and get more attention?” he testified this week at a co-conspirator’s trial, speaking with the composure of an entrepreneur discussing a startup venture. He has appalled the country as a man who appears as both an average college student and a criminal who intimidated his victims into torture or self-mutilation and urged his cronies to commit rape.
Outrage over the case, which earlier this year eclipsed the Covid-19 pandemic in news cycles and conversations in South Korea, led to the passage of a law increasing punishments for those who possess or view illegally created sexual material. The law will also hold some websites liable for hosting such content, even though the app Telegram remains out of reach because it is based overseas.
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