"Stopping the Second n번방"... Seoul City Opens Digital Sexual Crime Safety Support Center

One-stop Integrated Support for Victims Including Emergency Counseling, Complaint Filing, Police Statement Accompaniment, and Psychological Therapy
Deletion Support for Videos and More Begins... Police Agency Tracking System Linked, First AI Deep Learning Technology Developed by Local Government

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government opened the "Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Safety Support Center" on the 29th to provide integrated support for victims of digital sexual crimes and prevent second and third cases similar to the Nth Room incident. Victims can receive one-stop support here, from emergency counseling to complaint writing, police testimony accompaniment, legal and litigation support, deletion assistance, and psychological treatment without having to wander around.

According to Seoul City, although two years have passed since the "Telegram Nth Room incident" became public, digital sexual crimes have not decreased. In 2020, there were 9,549 cases of digital sexual crime nationwide, with Seoul accounting for 26% (2,532 cases). Additionally, digital sexual crimes against children and adolescents increased by 103% (218 cases) from 2019 to 444 cases in 2020.

Seoul City has entrusted the operation to the public institution Seoul Foundation of Women and Family to secure public nature, enabling the first-ever support for video deletion and ensuring continuity and stability of support. Deletion support for videos and photos distributed online has been the most needed assistance for victims.

Furthermore, the city plans to jointly utilize the "Illegal Filming Tracking System," developed and operated by the National Police Agency's National Investigation Headquarters, at the "Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Safety Support Center" to promptly delete and support victim videos. Although deletion support personnel have faced difficulties searching for victim videos online to find the distribution status of harmful posts, using the "Illegal Filming Tracking System" is expected to enable much faster deletion support.

Also, as the first local government nationwide, Seoul plans to develop technology that deletes victim videos using AI (artificial intelligence) deep learning. By having AI learn victim videos, this technology will quickly identify and efficiently delete videos distributed not only on illegal adult sites but across the entire internet, including SNS. Once developed, this technology will be used alongside the National Police Agency's "Illegal Filming Tracking System" to proactively respond to increasingly sophisticated digital sexual crimes.

Victim support will also be strengthened. The city has newly established a dedicated counseling hotline to enable victims to report and receive emergency counseling 24 hours a day. Additionally, an emergency counseling channel via KakaoTalk will be operated to support children and adolescents who cannot tell their parents about digital sexual crime victimization. Support will also include police investigation accompaniment, parental counseling, and psychological treatment upon victim reporting.

Support through linkage with the "Visiting Support Companion" program, operated in collaboration with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, will also be enhanced. The city will operate the previously run support companion project at the center, strengthening police investigation accompaniment and legal and litigation support for victims through two dedicated vehicles. After the center's opening, a "Digital Sexual Crime Dedicated Legal Support Team and Psychological Treatment Team" of 100 members will be launched to provide free legal and litigation support (1.65 million KRW per case) and psychological treatment costs (100,000 KRW per session, up to 10 sessions) for digital sexual crime victims.

The "Digital Sexual Crime Prevention Education" and "Child and Adolescent Online Grooming Prevention Program," first initiated nationwide by Seoul City, will also be operated at the center. In addition to prevention, counseling services for child and adolescent perpetrators to prevent recurrence of digital sexual crimes will be promoted. The "Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Safety Support Center" within the Seoul Foundation of Women and Family houses 13 specialized personnel across three teams: counseling, deletion, and prevention.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

On this day, Mayor Oh Se-hoon held a plaque ceremony at the "Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Safety Support Center" attended by Choi Kwan-ho, Chief of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, citizens, digital sexual crime experts, and heads of related organizations, toured the facility, and held the "Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Safety Support Center Opening Commemorative On-site Meeting," with participation from citizens, victim representatives, and experts.

Citizen monitoring group member Oh Ju-young, who attended the meeting, said, "As a parent raising children, I feel serious concern and heavy responsibility regarding the environment children and adolescents face," adding, "I hope the Seoul City center becomes the foundation for our children to live safely from digital sexual crimes."

Mayor Oh said, "Two years have passed since the Nth Room incident became known to our society, but digital sexual crime victims are still increasing. Children and adolescents, who are familiar with digital culture from an early age, are exposed to crime risks defenselessly and suffer even more because they do not know appropriate responses after victimization. Seoul City will promote integrated support for victims through the 'Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Safety Support Center,' from prevention to deletion support and psychological treatment."