A public official has been arrested for providing personal information to a YouTuber without the consent of those involved in the "Miryang Middle School Girl Group Sexual Assault Case" that occurred 20 years ago.
The Cyber Crime Investigation Unit of the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency announced on the 13th that it had arrested a public official in his 30s, Mr. A, from a local government in North Chungcheong Province, on charges of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and other offenses.
According to the police, Mr. A is suspected of illegally accessing and providing resident registration numbers, addresses, and other personal information of the sexual assault perpetrators to his husband, Mr. B, also in his 30s, who operates as the YouTuber "JeontuTokki."
JeontuTokki, Mr. B, disclosed some of the information provided by Mr. A on his YouTube channel.
The police explained that Mr. A provided the personal information to Mr. B even though he was aware that Mr. B would disclose the Miryang sexual assault perpetrators' information on his YouTube channel without authorization.
Previously, from June to July, Mr. B identified multiple individuals as perpetrators of the Miryang sexual assault case and disclosed their personal information on his YouTube channel.
He also threatened some of those whose information was disclosed, saying that if they did not send him an apology video, he would reveal their family members' information. He was apprehended at his residence on the 5th and arrested on the 7th.
While investigating Mr. B, the police confirmed through evidence analysis that Mr. A had provided multiple pieces of personal information to Mr. B and subsequently arrested Mr. A.
To date, there have been a total of 17 complaints and petitions filed against JeontuTokki, and with two additional cases of confirmed damage during the investigation, the police are currently investigating 19 cases in total.
The police plan to investigate whether there are additional offenses by the two through analysis of confiscated items and other means.
The Miryang sexual assault case refers to an incident in 2004 in which 44 high school students in Miryang sexually assaulted a middle school girl over the course of a year. Only 10 perpetrators were brought to trial, 20 were sent to juvenile detention centers, and the rest were either settled with the victim or were not included in the complaint, resulting in no prosecution due to lack of indictment.
The case drew renewed attention early last month when a YouTube channel began disclosing the personal information of those identified as perpetrators, and as other YouTubers and bloggers joined in revealing the alleged perpetrators' information, controversy over "private sanctions" arose. As a result, those involved in the videos filed complaints against the YouTubers and bloggers.
According to the provincial police agency, as of the 8th of this month, there have been 618 complaints and petitions regarding the disclosure of personal information related to the case, with 314 people under investigation. During this process, 14 individuals have been referred to prosecutors, while 15 were not booked as their complaints were withdrawn or the allegations were not substantiated.
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