‘Pastor’ Kim Nok-wan‘s identity, from sexually assaulting 10 minors to producing sexually exploitative videos, ‘Horrible’ (그알)

SBS’s ‘I Want to Know That’ tracks down the identity of ‘Pastor’ Kim Nok-wan, who committed sexually exploitative crimes against 240 victims on Telegram.

Kim So-min (pseudonym), who received a message from a stranger in December 2023. The man introduced himself as a vigilante who catches sex offenders, and informed that a photoshopped nude photo of So-min‘s face was distributed on Telegram. He said that he planned to embed the identity of the person who distributed it on Telegram, so he asked So-min for the identity of the suspicious person.

So-min refused the man’s request for identity information and reported the distribution of the photoshopped photo to the police. Then the man suddenly changed his mind, saying that Somin was defending the perpetrator who distributed the photos, and threatened to reveal her personal information, including her family members‘ names and workplaces. He also sent nude photos to her family to taunt them, and he even called and visited her workplace to leave threatening letters.

However, it wasn’t just one man who persistently harassed Somin. It was vigilantes who called from public phones in different areas with different voices. The perpetrators were arrested after a police investigation, and surprisingly, they were middle and high school students. Why did they do such a thing? The police investigation confirmed that they received instructions from the leader of a Telegram sex crime organization called ‘Pastor‘s Room’’.’ The vigilantes claimed that they were ordered to threaten Somin via Telegram and that they simply followed the order and did not know who the mastermind was.

Somin, a victim of the ‘Pastor’s Room’, said, “The kids who threatened me were the perpetrators who tried to enter the acquaintance‘s humiliation room, and at the same time, they were victims who were played around by the mastermind.”

The identity of the mastermind, the ‘Pastor’, who had been kept under wraps for over a year since Somin’s report, has been revealed. The so-called ‘Pastor’, who committed vicious sexual exploitation of 234 confirmed victims, was 33-year-old Kim Nok-wan.

Kim Nok-wan, the mastermind of the ‘Pastor‘s Room’, committed the largest-scale sexual crime in the past five years on Telegram, which had emerged as a hotbed of digital sex crimes such as the Nth Room and Doctor’s Room. He acted as ‘master’ to all of his organization‘s members, including evangelists and prospective evangelists, regardless of gender. It is said that he sexually assaulted 10 underage females, produced sexually exploitative videos to threaten the victims, and also ordered members of the organization to sexually assault other members.

Kim Nok-wan’s acquaintances that the production team of ‘I Want to Know That’ met said they were shocked when they saw the news about the ‘Pastor‘s Room’. What kind of person is he, and why did he form such a sex crime organization? How did the police find Kim Nok-wan, who reigned as the ‘Pastor’ while hiding behind the anonymity and security of Telegram? After the ‘Pastor’s Room organization was completely destroyed. Have the second ‘Pastor‘s Room’, ‘Acquaintance Humiliation Room’, and ‘Pizza Room’ really disappeared?

This week’s SBS ‘I Want to Know That’ will air at 11:10 PM on Saturday the 8th.

Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.