(warning: contains information about digital sexual assault)
Letter:
Dear Mom,
I hope you were not surprised when I sent you a petition link from the National Assembly since I don’t often do that. I was feeling a bit anxious because it was a month before the petition closed, and it needed 50,000 more signatures to make the National Assembly respond to it. And I couldn’t sign it myself because I needed to verify my Korean phone number, which I can’t do over here. Mom, I miss ranting with you about stuff on my mind and I hope I can talk about this with you in person, but I guess it’s too disturbing to be talked over via Skype.
You might have heard about the “Nth room” in the news before. Basically, they are Telegram rooms made to sexually exploit women. The “masters” of each room gather personal information about women through hacking their social media accounts and/or impersonating police officers, and threaten to expose them unless they act as “slaves” for a given period. This way, the “masters” make the women take exploitative photographs or films of themselves and distribute them to the users through Telegram rooms marked 1 to 8, which is why they are called the “Nth rooms.” Therefore it is hard for the victims to step forward- they do not fit in the “innocent victim” frame, which makes them more vulnerable. The images distributed through the “Nth rooms” also include “insulting acquaintances”- users photoshopping images of women they know to sexually harass them. It is estimated that at least 260,000 people are in these chatrooms.
One reason this crime proliferated the way it did is because users could easily evade punishment- Telegram is not a Korean app, and the police did not react properly to people reporting the incident. There is even one case where a man who reported the “Nth room” but did not get any response except “contact the Cyber Crime Unit” ended up becoming a “master” and making the Telegram rooms himself.
I remember you telling me it would be better if I become a prosecutor and do something with the justice system. I still don’t think that’s my calling or anything but these days I feel like you were right. What would my studying English literature ever change? What’s the worth of all the money I spend, all the books I read and all the essays I write if I can’t change a thing?
Anyways, to make this long story short, the petition is to be reviewed by the National Assembly because it reached 100,000 people in the course of a few weeks. We don’t know if this will change a lot, but I want to believe that we are doing what we can to make some progress. And I hope this also applies for me.
With love,
Nayun.
Lecture:
The “Nth room,” first exposed by an article from “The Hankyoreh” last November, are secret Telegram rooms where sexually exploitative images or videos of women are distributed. The “masters” of each room force women to act as “slaves” for a given period by threatening to expose their personal information. The method for gathering the victims’ personal information vary- one of them include sending a fake link that leads to a fake Twitter login page to women who post photos of their bodies without any personal information. When the victim logs in, the masters take hold of her ID and password, and gleans more personal information. Fearing exposure of their personal information, the victims are forced to comply to inhumane demands of the “masters.” The footages are then distributed to the “users” through rooms numbered from 1 to 8, which is why they are called the “Nth rooms.” Combining all the people in the Telegram chatrooms, it is estimated that at least 260,000 people are in these chatrooms.
It is difficult for the victim to step forward because people might blame the victim for not fitting in the “innocent victim” frame and attack them for uploading pictures of themselves in the first place. Nonetheless, the victims of the “Nth rooms” are not only victims whose social media accounts are directly hacked. Users also send pictures of women they personally know and their personal information such as their name and age, and ask people to photoshop them in a certain way or sexually harass them. This method of sexually harassing women are called “insulting acquaintances.”
The prospect of easily evading punishment made the crime proliferate this way, especially among young men in their teens or their twenties. As Telegram is not a Korean app, it is hard for the Korean police to track down the perpetrators. Moreover, the users of the Telegram chatrooms simply delete a chatroom and make another one when they sense that they are being watched. The police’s initial reaction did not help either- according to an article from “The Hankyoreh,” a 25-year-old who saw the “Nth room” and reported it did not get any response except “contact the Cyber Crime Unit,” and ended up becoming a “master” and making the Telegram rooms himself.
In order to take action against this proliferation of sexual exploitation, punishment for the “masters” and the “users” must be assured. International cooperation should be accompanied with tracking down the members of the Telegram chatrooms. The punishment for digital sexual assault must be strengthened, and every person should be aware that clicking the Telegram chatrooms and watching the videos is a crime in itself. Moreover, the “innocent victim frame” should be discarded. People who did not post photographs of their bodies online could a victim of digital sexual assault. However, even if the victims did, it does not change the fact that they were threatened and coerced.
Working notes:
My mom likes to talk about social issues or politics with me, and we often educate each other on parts we don’t know well about, which is why I chose to write to my mother. I’m worried that the letter contained too much of my personal feelings than the actual description of what is happening. In the lecture, I tried hard not to simply translate what is said on news articles or petitions and add my own opinion about how to solve this problem. I purposefully withheld what exactly the “masters” demand from the victims because it was too disturbing, but I wonder if they should be included to convey information about the crime.
This is an explanation of the “Nth room” in English that I think explained the situation better, if anyone wants to know more:
https://m.blog.naver.com/nomorenthroom/221782222359