Experiment on Random Chatting Pretending to Be an Elementary School Student
A man attempted to meet an elementary school student through random chat and, when caught, came up with an 'absurd excuse.'
"If we book a room, you'll shower right away? 'Buy contraceptives,'" he said, then gave the absurd excuse, "I met her just to be friends."
On the 23rd, SBS's 'Curious Story Y' highlighted a recent case where a man in his 20s visited the home of an elementary school girl he met through random chat and sexually assaulted her, but the arrest warrant was dismissed. The show conducted an experiment by posting messages pretending to be an elementary school student on a random chat app to see who would respond.
The production team installed the random chat app used by the victim and created an account pretending to be a 13-year-old elementary school girl. Immediately after creating the account, messages poured in from accounts with nicknames like "Uncle you can meet comfortably" and "Married man giving pocket money."
When the team tried to engage in actual conversation, obscene chats followed, seemingly for sexual purposes. One man in his 20s, Mr. A, suggested booking a lodging facility, saying to the team pretending to be an elementary school student, "Should I just book a room? Is that a bit much? If I come at 7, it's awkward to go home." He then asked, "Shall we meet at XX Station at 7 p.m. tomorrow? When we meet, you'll go straight to book a room, right? And you'll shower right away?" He even demanded that she buy 'contraceptives.'
Mr. A actually showed up at the meeting place. When he saw the production team there, he was flustered and, when asked, "What were you planning to do when meeting an elementary school student?" he gave the absurd excuse, "I didn't know she was an elementary school student. These days, everyone talks as if they're the same age, so I must have misunderstood. I wasn't trying to do anything; I just met her to be friends because I was lonely."
The man, who tried to justify meeting the elementary school student by saying he "just wanted to buy her a meal," pleaded, "My heart is here, right? I swear on my conscience. I was just bored and said, 'Wanna hang out?'" When the production team countered, "Didn't you also tell her to buy contraceptives and say you'd book a room?" Mr. A explained, "If I was really going to do it, I couldn't take responsibility, so I said that just in case. It was only words." He added, "I'm reflecting on it, and there are really too many trash people on that app."
Man in his 20s sexually assaulted elementary school student met through random chat... Prosecutors dismissed arrest warrant
Earlier, on July 29, the Daejeon Police Agency booked two men in their 20s on charges of sexually assaulting an elementary school girl (statutory rape of a minor). The two men, a working professional and a university student, exchanged messages with Ms. B through random chat. After learning that Ms. B was home alone, they separately visited her home in Jung-gu, Daejeon, on July 14 and sexually assaulted her. A school nurse, suspicious of bruises on Ms. B's arm, reported it, prompting a police investigation. The police identified the two men through CCTV and applied for arrest warrants, but the prosecutors rejected them, citing no flight risk.
As sexual crimes against minors using random chat apps have become frequent, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family designated random chat apps that do not implement technical measures such as real-name verification and reporting functions as 'youth harmful media' in 2021, requiring a separate adult verification process. However, aside from random chat apps, it remains practically difficult to regulate methods such as approaching minors through game chats and inducing conversations on other messengers to commit sexual crimes.
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