Overview
- The Seoul Central District Court handed Kim Nok-wan a life sentence for running the Telegram-based exploitation network known as the Vigilante Corps.
- The court ordered 10 years of public disclosure of Kim’s information, a 10-year ban on employment involving children and adolescents, and 30 years of electronic location tracking.
- Reports differ on the victim count, with Yonhap and the Associated Press citing 261 victims and JoongAng reporting 234 based on prosecutors’ and police tallies.
- The court said the methods used against very young victims were extremely cruel and noted rapes or assaults of at least 16 victims, including 14 minors.
- Officials and coverage describe the case as larger than prior Telegram crimes, exceeding the scale of Cho Joo-bin’s Baksa Room case by more than threefold.