Cho Ju-bin (Jo Ju-bin). Kyunghyang Shinmun Archives

Cho Ju-bin (Jo Ju-bin), who stood trial for producing and distributing sexually exploitive contents involving minors by running the “Doctor’s Room” on Telegram was sentenced to 42 years in prison. Cho is currently on trial for indecent assault, so his sentence could further increase.

On October 14, the Supreme Court petty bench 2 (head justice Lee Dong-won) dismissed Cho’s appeal and upheld the original ruling in a decision on the final appeal by Cho and four accomplices who were charged for forming a criminal organization, violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses, fraud, violation of the Narcotics Control Act, indecent assault, attempted murder and quasirape.

Cho was prosecuted for blackmailing dozens of female victims including minors and shooting sexually exploitive videos and selling and distributing them in the Doctor’s Room, a Telegram chatroom from May 2019 until February 2020. He was also charged for forming a criminal organization and was sentenced to forty years in prison in the first trial. The court also ordered the state to disclose and notify Cho’s personal information for ten years, restrict his employment in agencies involved with children and teenagers as well as welfare facilities for the disabled, place an electronic monitoring and tracking device on his ankle for thirty years, and to collect a fine of over 100 million won.

Last October, Cho was charged with stashing criminal profits of more than 100 million won and was sentenced to five years in prison. In his second trial, the two cases were merged, and he was sentenced to a total of 42 years in prison.

The Supreme Court also upheld the original sentences for Cho’s accomplices and other people involved in the case who stood trial with Cho. A, a former public service personnel, was sentenced to thirteen years in prison in the second trial. B, formerly a civil servant at Geoje City Hall, was also sentenced to thirteen years in prison in the second trial. C and D, paid subscribers of the Doctor’s Room, were sentenced to eight and seven years in prison, respectively. Yi--went by the name of Taepyeongyang (Pacific) in the chatroom--who managed the chatroom, withdrew his appeal last August. The underaged Yi was sentenced to five to ten years in prison.

Cho’s sentence is expected to increase further. Cho was charged last April for luring women claiming he could arrange a meeting (with a potential client), forcing them into unwanted sexual activities and forcing them to send nude pictures. The case is currently in trial. The prosecutors are seeking three years in prison for these charges.