The Korean police announced that they would conduct a joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of investigation in light of the current news about the "Nth Room" on Telegram and the sexual assaults of young girls that took place on the said messaging application.
The Seoul Central Police Department has been looking into the users who participated in the group to watch child pornography following the detention of Cho Joo Bin, a chatroom chief administrator.
The police said they were making progress to prosecute the chat room users as well.
"We understand well that the clients of the platform were not only bystanders but also offenders of sexual misconduct. So that they may be prosecuted by law, we must investigate."
Police say that first of all, the users who caused the actions with comments like "Send us something good" and "Show us some positive things" will be investigated, followed by a review of the others who simply watched.
Although the police set up an expert Task Force of 6 officers, the fact that Telegram is not a Korean messenger made them face limitations.
Since the latest reporting, a nationwide petition has been launched requesting prosecution and punishment of all people involved in the Nth Room and it has so far earned more than 1,5 million signatures.
Min Gap-ryong, the Korean National Police Agency's commissioner-general, has promised to mobilize every possible authority and power to look carefully at the so-called' Nth Room ' case and prosecute all relevant suspects legally.
He replied to five online requests from the President, requesting a strict review of the scandal and the release of a major suspect detained during his 20's. The petitions on Cheong Wa Dae's website were signed in less than a week by over 5 million people. It's a "cruel and surprising crime that takes girls, young people and women's lives away from them."
"Transforming the public knowledge that is vulnerable to digital sex crime is a matter for the police through a thorough investigation, and reducing digital sex crimes strongly," Min said.
About two dozen individuals were caught using Telegram in conjunction with a hardcore pornography group. According to authorities, at least 74 men, 16 of them minors, were sexually assaulted and exploited.
The offenders have reportedly approached the victims who were looking primarily for part-time jobs and have collected nude images with a promise of payment. They then choked him to make sexual acts, sometimes horrific, photograph or film himself.
The police have confirmed that this information was exchanged in a variety of chat rooms with entry fees of up to 1,55 million won ($1,240) from 2018. There are currently more than 260,000 followers.
The comments followed the approval of a police committee by an arrested operator, who uses the pseudonym "Baksa," which means "doctor" or "guru" in Korean, for the identity or face of an arrested operator. He was named Cho Ju-bin.
