Korean YouTuber sent to prosecutors over video claiming mutilated bodies found in Korea
Published: 06 Mar. 2026, 11:40
![A still from YouTuber Debo-chan's videos [SCREEN CAPTURE]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/03/06/aa236697-7b8b-480e-806f-a9881f46a594.jpg)
A still from YouTuber Debo-chan's videos [SCREEN CAPTURE]
A Korean YouTuber who spread claims that numerous mutilated bodies had been discovered in Korea to Japanese viewers has been referred to prosecutors.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s cyber investigation unit said Thursday that it forwarded the man surnamed Cho — a Korean YouTuber known as “Debo-chan” with 960,000 subscribers — to the prosecution on Feb. 13 on charges of violating the Framework Act on Telecommunications.
Cho uploaded a video on his YouTube channel on Oct. 22 last year titled, “The problem of murders and organ trafficking committed by criminal Chinese nationals who recently entered Korea without visas is becoming serious.”
In the video, he made unverified claims, including that “37 bodies consisting only of lower halves have been discovered in Korea,” that “there are 150 cases being privately investigated” and that “there are 80,000 missing persons in Korea.”
As the information spread online, police launched an investigation into Cho in November of the same year. They summoned him as a suspect and questioned him about the background behind opening the YouTube channel and the circumstances surrounding the posting of the video.
The same month, the National Police Agency defined the upload of such videos as a “serious act harming national interests” and instructed the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency to investigate the case.
Meanwhile, Cho defended himself in a video posted on his YouTube channel on Wednesday, saying, “I have never incited conflict or spread fake news,” and claiming that he had merely introduced information and comments that were already circulating online.
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 JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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