'The Origin of Public Disclosure' Scarlet Letter "Fear of Police Investigation Leads to Extreme Choices"

Founder of Juhonggeulssi "Stopping Activities Due to Police Investigation Pressure"
2nd Term Operator "Will Continue Despite Increased Pressure"
Police "Investigation Ongoing... No Further Comments"

[Asia Economy Reporters Song Seung-yoon and Lee Jung-yoon] The operators of the Telegram group ‘Juhonggeulssi,’ considered the origin of the ‘online vigilante’ groups that disclose personal information of sexual exploitation offenders, have revealed that they are experiencing intense psychological pressure due to police investigations targeting them. However, they stated that they have no intention of surrendering to the police.

The first creator of Juhonggeulssi, known as ‘Junggukjeonmun,’ recently told Asia Economy in an interview, “Due to the pressure from the police investigation, I decided I could no longer continue the activities and thus quit.” He had previously announced his intention to stop vigilante activities in the Juhonggeulssi group chat after media reports surfaced that the police had identified the operator of the personal information disclosure website Digital Prison. However, it was also announced that the chatroom would continue to operate through a second phase.

He said, “I had been suffering from depression originally, but the psychological pressure from being tracked by the police even led me to attempt an extreme choice. I have thought about surrendering, but currently, I have no such intention.”

Operator A, who took over the Juhonggeulssi chatroom from Junggukjeonmun, also said that seeing the eventual arrests of those involved in vigilante activities, including the Digital Prison operator, increased his sense of pressure. A said, “Seeing arrests even under limited circumstances makes me feel that the police are competent,” but added, “(Even if police investigations continue) the operation will persist by changing operators,” expressing his intention to continue the activities. A also said he would not surrender to the police. On the 26th, Juhonggeulssi posted a notice stating, “We will continue personal information disclosure activities until Telegram disappears,” and reiterated their determination to continue operations, saying, “Even if operators are arrested, we will not shut down the channel.”

Juhonggeulssi has originally shown confidence that they could evade police investigations. They are well aware that tracking is difficult because they do not use any messengers other than Telegram. However, some Juhonggeulssi affiliates have already been arrested, and with the subsequent capture of the Digital Prison operator, they appear to be suffering from anxiety.

Furthermore, they claim to have shared some materials with the Digital Prison side. They say that when Digital Prison requested necessary information related to sex offenders, they exchanged information by finding and sending it. However, they explained that the two groups’ operators do not overlap.

The investigation related to Juhonggeulssi is currently being handled by the Cyber Investigation Unit of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency. The police have been conducting investigations for six months since April and have succeeded in arresting some operators, but personal information disclosure is still ongoing by operators who have not yet been caught. A Busan police official said, “There is nothing to say except that the investigation is still ongoing,” and added, “We are concentrating investigative efforts to arrest them as soon as possible.”