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'Baksa Room' ringleader receives additional 5-year prison term for sexually assaulting minor

Published: 11 Dec. 2025, 12:53

Cho Ju-bin, the ringleader of the ″Baksa Room″ chatroom on Telegram who distributed sexually exploitative content involving minors, on March 25, 2020 [YONHAP]

Cho Ju-bin, the ringleader of the "Baksa Room" Telegram chatroom, received an additional five-year prison term for sexual assault involving a minor, the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday.

The Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that sentenced Cho to five years in prison, ordered him to complete 40 hours of a sexual violence treatment program and imposed a five-year ban on him working at facilities for children, youth and people with disabilities on charges under the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses.

"The lower ruling contained no errors in legal interpretation or omissions that would affect the verdict," the Supreme Court said.

Cho was accused of sexually exploiting and raping a victim who was a minor at the time in 2019, in a case that occurred before the "Baksa Room" crimes.

“The victim suffered extreme psychological pain for more than a year, and the defendant still denies the crime by claiming he was in a relationship with the victim," a lower court said. "He shows no remorse, and the victim continues to suffer significant secondary harm.”

Cho appealed the ruling, but the appellate court rejected his claim and the Supreme Court agreed that the lower court’s judgment carried no error.

Cho previously received a 42-year prison sentence in October 2021 for the “Baksa Room” crimes after the Supreme Court confirmed his conviction for producing and distributing sexually exploitative material involving dozens of women, including minors, and for coercing victims with accomplices to create content that he sold through Telegram.

The Supreme Court confirmed an additional four-month prison term in February last year for Cho and his accomplice Kang Hoon in a separate molestation case.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHO MUN-GYU [[email protected]]