Public anger fuels digital vigilantism in Korea as online sleuths dox suspected female murderer
A woman accused of causing the deaths of two men at a motel appears at the Seoul Northern District Court on Feb. 12 to attend a warrant review hearing. Yonhap
Public outrage over the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's decision to withhold a suspected serial murder's identity has sparked a digital witch hunt, with online vigilantes doxing the 21-year-old woman and driving massive traffic to a social media account presumed to be hers.
As of 10 a.m. Wednesday, an Instagram account linked by online sleuths to the suspect, surnamed Kim, reached about 11,000 followers. The figure marks a 55-fold increase from just 200 followers 10 days ago. The account features 12 posts, consisting mostly of photos of a young woman, with the latest entry drawing more than 2,200 critical comments.
The online frenzy erupted after police said the Gangbuk District motel murders did not meet the legal threshold for brutality required to release a suspect's identity.
Frustrated by the legal protection, online users circumvented law enforcement to dig up Kim's personal information. Uncensored photos of the woman's face are now spreading rapidly across platforms. Several individuals are using the unblurred images to drive traffic to their own YouTube channels.
Many users criticized the police, asking, "She is a serial killer, so why not disclose the identity?"
However, such digital vigilantism is subject to criminal punishment under strict privacy and defamation laws. Courts have penalized such unauthorized disclosures. In a recent crackdown, an appeals court on Feb. 10 sentenced a YouTuber who doxed perpetrators of the 2004 Miryang gang rape case to eight months in prison and a 3 million won ($2,100) fine.
This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.