Choi Young-jung, a former member of the Cheongju City Council facing child prostitution charges, has been indicted and detained pending trial.
The Cheongju District Prosecutors' Office said on the 25th that its Criminal Division 1, led by chief prosecutor Kim Eun-mi, indicted and detained Choi on charges including statutory rape of a minor and violations of the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses, covering the habitual production and distribution of sexual exploitation material, the purchase of sex, and conversations for the purpose of sexual exploitation.
Choi is accused of demanding on eight occasions between July 2024 and January this year that four minors aged 13 to 18, including a middle school student identified as A whom he met through a chat app, take and send him photos of their bodies.
Choi was found to have shared explicit photos received from some victims in a group chat with acquaintances.
Around the same period, Choi is also accused of having sexual relations on four occasions with three minors, including A. He was found to have demanded sex from A in exchange for pocket money, and to have paid money to the other two.
Choi allegedly offered A more money if she brought a friend or an older sister, showed her a video of himself having sex with another woman, and sent messages hinting at having sex together with a woman of another nationality.
He was found to have continued exchanging sexual messages with a victim as late as March this year, three months before the June 3 local elections.
During questioning, Choi claimed that while "it is true that I had sexual relations," he "did not know they were minors."
Prosecutors, however, believe Choi committed the offenses knowing the victims were minors, based on factors including that he met them near their schools, that they were wearing school uniforms, and the content of their KakaoTalk conversations. They also concluded that Choi may have an abnormal sexual interest in children and adolescents, given that numerous items of sexual exploitation material involving other women, beyond the victims, were found on his phone.
A prosecution official said, "We will continue to respond firmly to sex crimes targeting children, who are among the socially vulnerable."
