"After the Emergency Committee Chair stepped down, a humiliation room appeared"... Over 500 participants
Park Ji-hyun "The government must step up to prevent a second Nth Room incident"
The appearance of the humiliation room of former Democratic Party co-emergency committee chairperson Park Ji-hyun created on Telegram. Photo by JTBC
[Asia Economy Culture Young Intern Reporter] Former co-chair of the Democratic Party Emergency Response Committee Park Ji-hyun appealed for help regarding sexual crime victimization, stating that a "n?ngyokbang" (humiliation chatroom) was created about her on Telegram. A n?ngyokbang refers to a group chat where an unspecified number of people mention a specific individual and engage in various slanders, insults, and sexual harassment.
On the 1st, Park revealed her victimization during an interview on JTBC Newsroom, urging for the resolution of the second Nth Room incident that recently resurfaced. Park is a former member of "Chujokdan Bulkkot," a group that uncovered and publicized the so-called Nth Room cyber sexual exploitation case during her university days in 2019.
She said, "In early August, my n?ngyokbang was created," adding, "When I was the Emergency Response Committee chair, meaning when I was in a position of authority, even the kids didn’t dare to do anything. But after stepping down from that position, I saw them committing crimes as if they had been waiting for this moment, and I thought, 'These sexual criminals really only target the weak.'"
In fact, the police are investigating a Telegram chatroom titled "Room humiliating former Chair Park," where Park’s face was superimposed onto nude photos and fake videos were circulated.
A photo of Park Ji-hyun, former co-chair of the Democratic Party of Korea's Emergency Response Committee. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@
The ringleader used a character name commonly found on far-right websites and the alias "Democratic Party M Room." It is known that about 500 people gathered in this room, sharing sexually harassing remarks and various photos. After Park’s side directly reported it to the police, the chatroom disappeared, but since Telegram’s servers are overseas, difficulties in police investigation are expected.
Park stated that she has already reported the matter and pointed out, "The most serious problem is that Telegram has not cooperated with investigations since the Nth Room case, so this clue remains unresolved."
She continued, "The original Nth Room criminals were barely caught after over a year of police tracking. In reality, the tens of thousands of people who simply share and purchase (sexual exploitation materials) are not caught," adding, "Since the arrests of GodGod and Jo Joo-bin were publicly disclosed through the media, those committing crimes have become very good at hiding themselves."
She then added, "I think the political sphere should also consider ways to regulate Telegram." After the 2020 Nth Room incident surfaced, various legislative bills aimed at preventing recurrence were passed.
Park argued that the system is grossly insufficient. She said, "I think the political sphere should also consider ways to regulate Telegram," and added, "The Ministry of Justice or the government should take the lead, but even though the Ministry of Justice’s Digital Sexual Crime Response Task Force disappeared, Minister Han Dong-hoon (of the Ministry of Justice) has never expressed an intention to create a new one."
On the same day, Park posted on Facebook, "The Democratic Party must take the lead in creating strong legislation to eradicate sexual crimes and appropriate support measures for victims," and urged, "It should not be just a brief flash like during the Nth Room case. This time, please find a fundamental solution until the end."
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