MOON HYUNG-WOOK SENTENCED TO 34 YEARS

[Anchor Lead]

The court sentenced Moon Hyung-wook, a Telegram channel operator nicknamed God God, to 34 years in prison for producing and selling sexual exploitation videos. Moon’s antisocial crime was determined to have left indelible marks on the victims.

[Pkg]

The Andong branch of the Daegu District Court handed down a sentence of 34 years in prison to Moon Hyung-wook, the operator of the Nth Room group on a Telegram channel. Moon was charged with the violation of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses. The court also ordered employment restriction and disclosure of his personal information for 10 years and attachment of a GPS tracker for 30 years. The court explained that he targeted children and teenagers to commit his crime of producing and selling sexual exploitation videos, causing irreparable harm to victims. The prosecution found that Moon ran the Nth Room group on Telegram after opening it in 2019. He was accused of uploading some 3,700 sexual exploitation videos under the nickname 'God God'. He received roughly 1,000 sexual exploitation videos from 21 victims who were children and adolescents and threatened three of their parents with the distribution of their children’s sex videos. The court once again defined the Telegram Nth Room case as an antisocial crime that degrades human dignity. Civic groups, however, pointed out that the sentence was too lenient and called for a tougher punishment, stating that such digital sex crimes are still prevalent.

[Soundbite] Kim Mi-jeong(Chair, Gyeongbuk Counseling Society Council) : "We firmly reject the court’s lenient punishment for digital sex crimes. We will stand together with the victims."

The prosecution will determine whether to appeal or not after reviewing the sentencing.