Leader of South Korea’s largest Telegram sex crime ring sentenced to life in prison

Kim Nok-wan, 33, the convicted leader of South Korea’s largest Telegram-based sex exploitation ring, was sentenced to life imprisonment on 24 November 2025 by the Seoul Central District Court.

The court, presided over by Judge Lee Hyun-kyung of Criminal Division 26, also imposed a 30-year electronic monitoring order, mandated 10 years of public disclosure of Kim’s personal information, and barred him from employment in any child- or disability-related institutions for a further 10 years.

Kim was found guilty of a range of crimes, including the production and distribution of child sexual exploitation material and repeated acts of rape or quasi-rape. His offences, carried out between August 2020 and January 2025, involved at least 16 victims — 14 of whom were minors.

The court stated, “He repeatedly committed crimes for four years and five months… coercing victims into recruiting new victims by threatening to release their nude images.”

Investigators revealed that Kim created more than 1,700 exploitative media files involving over 70 individuals and distributed them when victims resisted. In one case, he sent an explicit video of a victim to her father via an accomplice. He also threatened victims in their workplaces.

“The methods of the crimes were extremely cruel and vicious,” the court said. “As similar crimes are rapidly increasing in our society, the need for severe punishment is critical.”

Despite the scale of the case, the court acquitted Kim and his co-defendants of charges related to the formation of a criminal organisation. It found that, while the group operated under Kim’s coercive leadership, it lacked the structured planning and hierarchy required to be considered an organised crime group under the law.

Ten accomplices received prison sentences ranging from two to four years. The court acknowledged that many had themselves been victims of blackmail by Kim, forced to lure others into exploitation to prevent their own compromising images from being distributed. Five were minors at the time of the offences, and the other five were young adults who had only recently reached adulthood.

Only Kim and two others were detained in court. The remaining nine were not immediately taken into custody.

This case gained national attention earlier in 2025 when police publicly disclosed Kim’s identity following internal deliberation.

On 22 January 2025, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s disclosure committee approved the release of his personal information. The disclosure was made public in early February and included his name, age, and photographs. Kim had attempted to block the release by filing a legal appeal, but the Seoul Administrative Court rejected his request.

At the time, police confirmed that Kim operated under the alias “Pastor” and had created a group known as “The Vigilantes” in May 2020. Over four years, he managed a network of encrypted Telegram chat rooms used to coerce, exploit, and distribute sexual content involving 234 victims — 159 of whom were teenagers.

This figure is more than three times the victim count in the notorious “Nth Room” or “Baksabang” case from 2019–2020, in which Cho Joo-bin blackmailed 73 victims into creating child sexual abuse material.

The magnitude of Kim’s case, alongside the earlier scandal, has led to increasing public calls for legislative reform, stronger digital surveillance, and improved victim support services in South Korea.