'Cyber Hell:' What You Need to Know About the Infamous South Korean Nth Room Sex Crime Scandal
Yesterday, Netflix released Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror, a feature documentary about the infamous Nth room sex crime scandal.
Rising to prominence between November 2019 and early 2020 while the world was preoccupied with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nth room case took South Korea by storm, dominating news headlines and leaving the whole country in shock.
However, here in the U.S., many are unaware of the scope and barbarity of the Nth room.
So, what do you need to know about the Nth room before watching Cyber Hell? Who are the major players and how did such a terrifying sex crime ring exist?
Here is a brief rundown of South Korea's Nth room.
What is the Nth Room Case?
The Nth Room case centers on a sex crime ring that operated through Telegram. Young women - often minors, as young as elementary and middle school students - who were looking for jobs were solicited by men who forced them to create Telegram accounts.
The men would steal these women's personal information, then force them to take scantily-clad or nude photos, which would then be used to blackmail the women to do increasingly extreme acts.
After becoming ensnared, the female victims would often be termed "slaves," and their photos and videos were spread in numerous Telegram group chats, with some "rooms" housing thousands of users who would often egg on the victim.
Depending on how much money these Telegram users were willing to pay, they would be shepherded into different tiered rooms, with explicit content that matched their membership status. The whole case was named "Nth Room" as a reference to the sheer number of chats that were created to disseminate child pornography.
The Nth Room Case came to a head when a tip was submitted to The Hankyoreh newspaper in November 2019, which then started the media and police investigation that would eventually unmask two of the ringleaders, Godgod and Baksa.
Over the course of the Nth Room Case, at least 74 women and girls were victimized, and in addition to Godgod and Baksa, 3,757 people were arrested in connection with the Nth Rooms, with 245 imprisoned.
Due to the online nature of the case, the Nth Room scandal has come to be seen as a prime example of the horrors of modern internet sex crimes.
Who are the major players of the Nth Room Case?
Godgod (aka. Moon Hyung-wook)
A Telegram user nicknamed Godgod is the original creator of the Nth Rooms. He initially established eight group chats, and uploaded sexually explicit content of young girls to them.
Eventually, Godgod would be revealed to be a man named Moon Hyung-wook. He was arrested and sentenced to 34 years in prison.
Though he was the initiator, Godgod isn't the most infamous figure to come out of the Nth Room Case.
Baksa (aka. Cho Ju-bin)
Baska is the nickname of a Telegram user who acted as Godgod's copycat, and is credited as the main perpetrator behind the Nth Rooms.
He often found his victims by posting part-time job listings on Twitter, and then soliciting personal information from the women and girls who applied. (In South Korea, it's customary to send along a picture of your ID when applying to part-time work.)
Eventually, SBS unveiled Cho Ju-bin the man who had called himself Baksa.
His identity shocked the South Korean public: his reputation was apparently one of a quiet, educated 25 year-old man who earned good grades.
After the authorities apprehended him, Cho was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his crimes.
Joker
Joker is the Telegram user who was the whistleblower in the Nth Room Case - He's the man who contacted The Hankyoreh newspaper with a tip about a sex crime ring operating on Telegram.
He met up with The Hankyoreh journalist Kim Wan and his associate Oh Yeon-seo in a cafe, and revealed the depths of the depravity that occurred in the Nth Rooms.
The Hankyoreh Newspaper
The Hankyoreh newspaper was the first publication that sought to notify the South Korean public about the existence of the Nth Rooms. The story was primarily investigated by reporters Kim Wan and Oh Yeon-seo.
However, when The Hankyoreh initially published their expose on the Nth Room, they found that it didn't garner much attention from the public.
In the process, Kim's information was doxxed and leaked onto Telegram, which resulted in threats on his and his family's lives, as Nth Room ringleaders announced prizes for whoever could publish Kim's birthdate, the names of the wife and kids, or their phone numbers.
It was so bad that, when asked whether he'd write the story again if given a chance to go back in time, Kim said that after horrifying ordeal him and his family were put through, he wouldn't.
Oh had a different response, saying that she wished she knew about the Nth Rooms sooner, so she could've made the public aware of them earlier.
Team Flame
Team Flame is a group of anonymous student journalists who infiltrated the Nth Rooms and gave information to the media and the authorities.
Primarily made up of young women, Team Flame would monitor the Nth Rooms and take screenshots of important information that greatly helped investigators in tracking down Godgod and Baksa.
SBS's Y-Story
SBS and their program Y-Story were some of the later outlets who took up the Nth Room Case in early 2020.
Though SBS made great strides in making the public aware of the Nth Rooms, they also suffered retaliation from Baksa.
Once he learned of the SBS's intent on broadcasting the Nth Room story, Baksa began labelling his victims as "SBS's victim" and threatened the broadcast station, saying that he would make one of his victims jump off the SBS building's roof if they went on to air the story.
Thankfully, SBS stuck to their guns, and broadcast the segment. They also later became the outlet that officially unmasked Baksa as Cho Ju-bin.
JTBC's Spotlight
At the same time that SBS sought to expose the Nth Room story, JTBC's Spotlight was another investigative outlet that hoped to do the same thing.
The producers at JTBC mostly interacted with Godgod, who claimed that he wouldn't get caught, despite directly contacting Spotlight. One of the producers claimed that she felt Godgod got cocky, because Baksa had previously publicly shaded Godgod, saying that his content was amateurish.
However, despite Godgod's trolling, JTBC finally helped unmask him as well.
What will Cyber Hell cover?
Though there are plenty of YouTube videos and documentaries on the Nth Room Case, Netflix's Cyber Hell features dramatizations of the major players, and interviews with the reporters and police detectives who worked on the investigation.
The sleek production covers the period between November 2019 and early 2020, during the time when the media became involved in the Nth Room sex crime scandal.
Should you stream Cyber Hell?
Yes. Cyber Hell features a modern crime for true crime lovers, that also draws the public's attention to a dangerous and pressing issue.
What's especially chilling about the Nth Room situation is how many ordinary people were swept up in the case - not only amongst the victims, but also amongst the nearly 260,000 people who viewed the sexually explicit content of underage girls uploaded to the Telegram chats.
Interviews with victims and female reporters mentioned how they felt they could no longer trust the men around them, after seeing the twisted behavior of the anonymous Nth Room participants. After all, it could have been anyone.
The Nth Room and Cyber Hell are a meaningful reminder of the dangers of internet anonymity, and how it can provide cover for some seriously harmful acts. After all, despite the arrests of Baksa and Godgod, the repercussions of the Nth Room Case haven't ended; the explicit videos and photos still circulate online.
Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror started streaming on Netflix on May 18, 2022.
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