Police charge 25 with producing, possessing child porn

The suspects are accused of making explicit materials that involve master-slave roleplaying. The investigation team found 4,352 unreported pieces of child porn, bringing the victim count to 45.

Activist against online child pronography performs in front of the Supreme Court, Seoul, in October 2021 before a ruling on a high profile online sexual exploitation trial was made. [YONHAP]

The cybercrimes department of Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police filed criminal charges against 25 people for alleged involvement in producing and possessing child pornography.

Six were arrested, including a 22-year-old man.

The suspects are accused of making explicit materials that involve master-slave roleplaying by luring young victims with gift certificates and game items.

A 17-year-old student approached a 12-year-old through Twitter in November 2021. He groomed her by complimenting her looks, which later evolved into a relationship that lasted until May 17 last year.

He later asked the girl to make explicit materials with her smartphone and send them to him through Kakao Talk, the most-used messenger app in Korea.

The materials were later sent to 15 other men, including a 22-year-old.

A total of 1,793 videos and other materials were filmed and shared with the group of 15.

The 17-year-old even had sex with the underage girl by disguising the meeting as a date.

The other suspects requested that the two play games like "master and slave" or “daddy and little.”

Nine other people, including a 34-year-old, approached the 12-year-old through Twitter and received explicit videos that were already recorded.

The police started investigating the case after the parents of the young girl reported what was happening.

During the seizure of the suspect’s properties, including online cloud storage, the investigation team found 4,352 unreported pieces of child porn, bringing the victim count to 45.

Investigators have talked to 12 of the victims with plans to talk with the remaining 33.

“If a stranger approaches you through social media and tries to win you over with gift certificates or game items, you need to immediately inform a guardian you trust like your parents,” a police officer at Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police said. “Such crimes can be prevented when you clearly refuse requests of personal information or pictures that expose your body.”

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]