Supreme Court confirms life sentence for leader of Telegram sex crime ring

The Supreme Court of the country has confirmed a life sentence for Kim Nok-wan, the leader of a Telegram-based sex crime ring. This is the most extensive domestic sex crime case ever recorded, involving 261 victims. The court also mandated that Kim wear an electronic monitoring device for three decades, be prohibited from working at institutions that serve children and adolescents, and have his personal details made public for a decade.

Kim was found guilty of running a criminal organization called "The Vigilantes" from August 2020 to January 2025, during which time he produced and distributed exploitative sexual videos, coerced victims into appearing in illicitly made videos, and sexually assaulted children and teenagers. The group was responsible for blackmailing individuals into submitting nude photos, which were then used to create and disseminate sexual exploitation videos.

The scope of the crime is significantly larger than the infamous "Baksabang" case from 2019-2020, where Cho Joo-bin was responsible for blackmailing 73 individuals into making child and adolescent pornography.