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| An online petition against Judge Oh Deok-sik drew more than 420,000 endorsements./ Screen capture from president.go.kr |
By Kim Se-jeong
A lower court judge in Seoul initially assigned to hear one of the cases involving a suspect accused of selling access to violent sexual videos on Telegram recused himself Monday amid mounting public pressure against him.
A public petition posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website asking for Judge Oh Deok-sik's removal from the case drew more than 420,000 endorsements.
According to the Seoul Central District Court, Monday, the judge submitted a letter announcing his intention to withdraw from the case and "the court accepted it acknowledging that the situation he was in could hinder him from doing his job." The case was immediately assigned to a female judge.
The petitioner wrote: "Oh is notorious for giving lenient sentences to sex offenders. I can't comprehend why the same judge was assigned to hear probably one of the largest sexual exploitation cases in Korea. His gender sensitivity is close to zero, and he hurts victims by letting criminals go free. He shouldn't hear that case."
Last year, Oh acquitted a former boyfriend of singer and actress Goo Hara, of attempted blackmail through threatening to release a sex video filmed without Goo's consent. Earlier, he also acquitted a former journalist indicted for trying to rape actress Jang Ja-yeon, who later committed suicide, revealing in her suicide note that she had been forced to have sex with politicians, businessmen and journalists.
The relevant case regarding Oh involves a 16 year-old suspect who is accused of operating a Telegram chat room named "Pacific Expedition" ― that had between 8,000 and 10,000 members ― in which he sold access to videos of sexual abuse acquired from Cho Ju-bin, 24, the mastermind of a sex slavery and abuse ring who was detained by police recently.
The sex slavery and abuse ring on Telegram drew enormous attention last week after Cho's arrest; and in response to the public outrage, police made his identity public.
So far, the police have identified 74 victims of Cho, including 16 minors. The prosecution said Tuesday that the number of underage victims could increase as the investigation progresses.
Cho was arrested for blackmailing women and underage girls into making degrading and sometimes violent sexual videos which he sold access to in a Telegram chat room called "Baksa," the Korean word used to refer to people with doctorate degrees. He received payments in cryptocurrency.
Police believe the room had at least 1,000 members and suspect him of also selling access to the videos in other chatrooms. On Tuesday, officers said the number of those who joined, and sometimes left, the chatroom was much higher and that they're looking to identify 15,000 IDs obtained through a company that helped with the cryptocurrency transactions.
Police also said Tuesday that three members of "Baksa" room turned themselves in after law enforcement agencies vowed to identify all members and charge them.
Investigators are also trying to unlock two confiscated smartphones and other electronic devices belonging to Cho in an effort to uncover more evidence.
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