A 33-year-old South Korean man, Kim Nok-wan, was sentenced to life in prison for leading an online extortion ring that exploited 261 victims, including over a dozen minors, from 2020 until his arrest in January. The Seoul Central District Court deemed his crimes severe enough to necessitate “permanent isolation from society.” Kim directed a vigilante group that blackmailed victims into creating explicit content, often coercing them to recruit new targets.
He targeted both men and women, particularly those who posted suggestive content on social media and individuals seeking secret chat rooms for altered images. Kim sexually assaulted 16 victims, including 14 minors, and recorded many of the incidents. He produced approximately 1,700 exploitative images and distributed around 260 online to blackmail those unwilling to cooperate.
Despite expressing remorse, the court highlighted the brutality of his actions and the lasting harm to the victims. Ten accomplices received sentences of two to four years. Kim’s case raised significant public concern about the risks of digital sexual violence, echoing a previous 40-year sentence given to another perpetrator for similar crimes.
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