Police disclose identity of key suspect in so-called 'second Nth room'

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Police disclose identity of key suspect in so-called 'second Nth room'

Published: 23 Dec. 2022, 11:18 Updated: 23 Dec. 2022, 16:37

Photo shows ″L,″ the key suspect arrested in Australia in an online sex abuse crime targeting underage people on Nov. 23. [YONHAP]

Police have disclosed the identity of the key suspect of the so-called “second Nth room,” an online sex abuse crime targeting underage women in Korea.

Twenty-seven-year-old Lee Sung-il, who is known as “L” in Korea, was accused of threatening nine underage girls and creating and circulating 1,200 sexually exploitative videos of them through the Telegram messenger app.

Lee was arrested by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) at his home in Sydney following a three-month investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency.

Lee's identity, the case number and dates of his trials were disclosed by the Australian judicial authorities.

According to the Australian police, Lee was charged with possessing child abuse material obtained through a carriage service and refusing to reveal the password of his mobile phone.

The charges are considered felonies in Australia, which could put Lee behind bars for a maximum of 25 years.

He was refused bail during a hearing.

According to police, Lee impersonated members of a community that helped bring the “Nth room” case to light in 2019. He told the victims that their pictures were shared online and that he would track down the people spreading them.

Lee has denied the charges and claimed all the sexually exploitative digital material was downloaded from the internet. However, police confirmed that he had videos saved in his phone that had never been shared online.

Korean police are working with the Australian police to press their own charges against Lee and have plans to seek his extradition.

“We will try our best to put him before the court in Korea by extraditing him regardless of the Australian judicial authorities' punishment,” said a spokesperson for the Seoul Metropolitan Agency.

Lee is set to appear before a local Australian court on Jan. 18 next year.

BY CHAE HYE-SON [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]