KMYUL STUDIO

This documentary film is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute's Asian Stories project, in collaboration with Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, Indonesia's Tempo magazine, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism, and Manila-based ABS-CBN. In July, 2019, two college students who call themselves "Team Flame" first broke the story of the "Nth room," a massive digital sex crime case where perpetrators blackmailed women including underage girls into performing sexually explicit acts on camera, with thousands of users paying in cryptocurrency to watch. What Team Flame started off ― an investigation into distribution channels of illicit, hidden-camera videos in the hope of submitting it to a journalism exhibition ― ended up revealing a nationwide scandal in Korea that horrified the public. Interactions among those involved in the digital sex crime-ring first began on social media services such as Twitter before conversations were moved to Telegram ― an encrypted messaging app. All of the exploitative videos were then distributed by chat room operators on Telegram to paid-up members. The number of users of the Nth Room and the "Doctor's Room," where the sexually abusive content was uploaded, may have numbered anywhere between the tens of thousands to more than a quarter of a million. Meanwhile, we're witnessing a similar phenomenon in other countries around the world ― sexual exploitation being transformed into a lucrative business ― with the advent of high-speed networks and sophisticated digital devices. "There was also an incident in Hong Kong that was very similar to the Nth room case. We got a request from the authorities there asking us how the videos got taken down and deleted, so we shared everything we knew with them. There will be circumstances that are unique to each country, but the crime is fundamentally similar in nature," Seo Seung-hui, director of the Korea Cyber Sexual Violence Response Center, told The Korea Times. Numerous Chinese-language chat rooms similar to the Nth room were also found on Telegram. "We've gained access to four of those chat rooms which are clearly abusive, and one of them has over 30,000 users, and there are thousands more in the other ones," Team Flame said. "Videos being circulated in those chat rooms included sexually-exploitative videos from the Nth room as well as others that appeared to have been filmed in China. There were thousands, tens of thousands of illicit videos being shared and distributed." To delve deeper into the evolving digital sex crime cases in Korea and across Asia, The Korea Times has been collaborating with four media organizations ― the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, Tempo in Indonesia, and the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism and ABS-CBN in the Philippines ― on a special investigation into this issue over the last seven months. This hour-long documentary explains what happened in the Nth room chat rooms, how girls fell prey to the perpetrators, and how the digital world and social media platforms provide an optimal environment for online sex offenses to take place. We will also be looking into how similar cases are being seen in other Asian countries, and how ― and which ― social media platforms have become a central hub for criminals in Korea, China, Japan and other parts of Asia. #digitalsexcrime #Nthroom #AsianStory

Since he arrived in Seoul in 2011, Kentucky-born actor Kenneth Fibbe had actively pursued his acting career with an E-6-1 visa ― a special permit for foreigners seeking to engage in profitable activities in the field of music, acting and the arts, among others. Fibbe appeared in a plethora of hit series like "Descendants of the Sun" (2016), starring A-list actors Song Joong-ki and Song Hye-kyo, and also on the music video of K-pop diva, HyunA. It looked as if he was living a life that many people would envy. After a few years, however, he left Korea and returned to his home country. For Fibbe, life in Korea was no longer tolerable. He felt like he would never be protected or respected by anyone, even if he persevered against all odds and rose to the top.

Seoul-based model/actress Renee Simone was spending time with her family at her home in New Jersey when she received a shocking message from her friend in Korea. According to the message, she had been accused of theft by her Korean management company. “Unbeknownst to me, the agency reported me to police and requested damages and fees, claiming I had stolen money from them,” Simone, who was featured in the commercial of global tech behemoth Samsung Electronics, told The Korea times during a recent interview at a studio in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. “I was told that I had to see police immediately.” #foreignerinkorea #e6visa #foreignentertainers #koreanagency

This is the second in a four-part series of stories on 'artist and entertainer' visa holders in Korea supported by the Korea Press Foundation. This interactive digital journalism project features articles, photography and short documentary films that expose the systematic loopholes in Korea's E-6 visa management practices that are easily used to exploit foreign artists who come to the country with hopes to be part of the nation's arts and entertainment scene. #humantrafficking #e6visa #foreignentertainers #korea