Seoul: The Supreme Court has affirmed a five-year prison term for Cho Ju-bin, the orchestrator of an infamous online sex blackmail ring, for the sexual assault of a minor. This sentence is in addition to his existing 42-year sentence for distributing sexually explicit materials involving minors.

According to Yonhap News Agency, the top court upheld a ruling from a lower court that found the 29-year-old guilty of sexually exploiting and raping a minor in 2019. The court rejected Cho's appeal, thereby extending his total sentence to 47 years.

The recent ruling follows the court's confirmation of Cho's 42-year conviction in October 2021. He was charged with organizing a criminal ring and blackmailing numerous minor and adult victims into producing sexually exploitative content, which he distributed to members of a pay-to-view Telegram chat room known as Baksabang.

Cho's online sexual offenses took place from May 2019 to February 2020, until his arrest in March 2020. The Baksabang case was among several sexual exploitation scandals related to group chat rooms that sparked nationwide outrage, leading the government to implement stringent measures against digital sex crimes.