[Non-face-to-face Sexual Crime]② 15-year-old Female Middle School Student in Open Chat Room: "I'm an Adult, Want to See OO?"

Filled with Statements That Could Be Linked to Sexual Crimes
"Encouraging Victims to Report, Preventing Secondary Harm"

"30-year-old male. Want to see my kku-chu (male genitalia)?", "I'm an adult, is it okay to chat?"

These were the words written by an anonymous man who entered a KakaoTalk open chat room with the hashtags #15-year-old #female immediately after it opened.

The reporter observed a 1:1 KakaoTalk open chat room created under the name of a 15-year-old female middle school student for 20 days, from the 13th of last month to the 2nd of this month. The open chat room hashtags included #15-year-old #minor #female #lookingfortalk. On average, two people initiated conversations per day, totaling 41 people. On the first day of creation, the 13th of last month, eight people started conversations. Many of the interlocutors were peers aiming to form healthy relationships, but a significant number were adult men.

KakaoTalk’s open chat service allows anonymous group chats via links without exposing phone numbers or KakaoTalk IDs. Users can use their own KakaoTalk profiles or create open profiles or anonymous profiles. Group KakaoTalk rooms can be created on a single topic targeting an unspecified number of people.

While anonymity offers the advantage of comfortable conversations, some adults abused this feature. A user who entered the open chat room immediately after it opened introduced himself as a 19-year-old male. Without exchanging many words, he abruptly said, "Come visit my house." Another man, upon entering the open chat room, said, "I am an adult and I like erotic things," initiating conversation. This user, who introduced himself as 28 years old, continued a one-sided conversation with phrases like "I want to date you" and "What is your ID?" When there was no reply for a long time, this man left and re-entered the chat room, this time introducing himself again as "Hi, I am 29 years old."

According to the '2021 Child and Adolescent Crime Victim Survey' published by the Korea Institute of Criminology and Justice Policy in March this year, among juvenile sexual crime victims, the proportion of sexual harassment by strangers was high at 24.6%, unlike other crimes. The institute analyzed that this is related to the high rate of sexual harassment occurring online. Instant messengers like KakaoTalk ranked third (19.1%) among online platforms where sexual harassment occurs. In fact, some users who engaged in conversations even offered to show pictures of their genitals.

Social media platforms are also hotbeds for digital sexual crimes against youth. On Twitter, some users posted videos or photos exposing their body parts, and others retweeted and reproduced them. In some cases, prices were set for photos and videos according to the level of explicitness and sold.

Parents are deeply concerned about such incidents occurring through applications accessible to anyone. One parent expressed, "It is frustrating because I have no way of knowing what is happening on the small screen," and added, "Recently, since relationships are also formed online and people meet in person, I always feel worried."

Jung Hee-jin, team leader of the Tacteen Tomorrow Child and Adolescent Sexual Violence Counseling Center, stated, "It is necessary to conduct education to prevent secondary damage and encourage active reporting." She explained, "Victims of digital sexual violence among youth often delete photos and videos that could serve as evidence because perpetrators threaten them by saying, 'You also filmed it, you sent it.'" Jung added, "In cases of sexual crimes against children and adolescents, the app companies where the incidents occurred should not just delete the perpetrator’s account but also impose reporting obligations on online platform operators so that it can be reflected in investigations."