On Tuesday, March 24, authorities and the media finally disclosed the identity of the perpetrator of the sex trafficking controversy "Nth Chatroom," the pornography that sexually abused and exploited 74 women.
According to the reports, the main suspect who is hiding under his nickname or username "Baksa," translated as "Doctor," is Cho Joo Bin, a 25-year-old male, graduate of an Information and Communication degree.
Joo Bin graduated in 2018, and according to the data collected from his university, Cho did well during his school days and is actually active on participating academically. He previously won the major prize for school's book report contest, and he was also the editor of their school newspaper, releasing and writing for the editorial section.
However, according to his acquaintances, he was not the teacher's pet but rather a "black sheep" who always messed up and gave professors trouble. Despite his personality during college, his colleagues never imagined that he would do something severe as the "Nth Chatroom."
Meanwhile, netizens felt several emotions after finding out the face behind the mask of the suspect. Recently, 2 million netizens in and outside of South Korea signed the petition from the Blue House, demanding the police and the media to release the identity of the suspects and his accomplices in the sex trafficking den.
Reports also stated that over 260,000 men participated in this brutal crime against over 70 women, wherein it was reported that the majority of the women were minors.
"Nth chatroom" is a chatroom that was used by Korean men to satisfy their sexual pleasure by watching inappropriate contents made by the minors and the suspects, containing abusive and atrocious scenes in exchange for money.
Some of the horrible activities in the chatroom were [WARNING! This might contain triggering and sensitive words] putting a pair of scissors inside the female genitals, cutting out the nipples of the minors, writing the word "slave" on the skin of the victim using a knife, and sexually abused by different people.
Starting from 2018, most of the victims, whose age ranges from 14-18, became sex slaves and were blackmailed to record videos of themselves.
Upon exposure, netizens were full of rage, prompted them to signing the petition to reveal not only the main suspects' identity but also the identity of all the men involving the violent abuse to these minors. Several celebrities and Korean idols, such as EXO's Baekhyun and Chanyeol, VIXX's Ravi, EXID LE, Girl's Day's Hyeri also took part in the petition and expressed their anger and disbelief.
Moreover, hashtags, including #nthroom_stop and #NthRoomCase trended Korea for several hours, hoping that the government of South Korea will take action immediately to catch the criminals behind this controversial case.
