Moon Hyung-wook / Yonhap

A court on Thursday sentenced a key member of an online sexual blackmail ring to 34 years in prison for coercing dozens of women and girls into sharing sexually explicit videos of themselves.

A district court in the southeastern city of Andong convicted Moon Hyung-wook, 24, of operating the "nth room" chatrooms on Telegram and distributing thousands of obscene videos of female victims.

Moon, known by his username GodGod, was arrested in May 2020 and indicted the following month on 12 counts, including the violation of laws on protecting minors from sexual abuse. The prosecution had demanded a life sentence.

Cho Ju-bin, the leader of the operation, was sentenced to 40 years in prison last November. (Yonhap)