Psychiatrist in ‘digital prison’ in composite photo … “It breaks my heart to say of the patient ‘Who do you believe now?’

On June 26, information from a psychiatrist with 34 years of experience was published on the site ‘Digital Prison’ who divulges personal information of sex offenders. Chae Jeong-ho (59) was a professor of psychiatry at the Catholic University of Korea. ‘Digital Prison’ revealed that Professor Chae attempted to buy sexual exploits in Telegram’s Room n ‘and revealed personal information such as his phone number along with a screenshot of the Telegram conversation.

Since then, Professor Chae has endured more than 100 phone calls and text messages a day. Texts containing abusive words such as “Die” and “Are you human?” Were spilled, and the conference was often interrupted due to phone calls during video conferences. The phone rang non-stop even at dawn.

Professor Chae sent an email to the “digital prison”, saying: “The content that has been uploaded is not true”, and asked: “Please drop the public information”. The response that came in was “we are correct as a result of the self-verification” and “we cannot provide personal information”.

In the end, he sued the police for ‘digital prison’ defamation due to timely false information. Professor Chae insisted that the screenshots of the dialogues of telegrams uploaded to the digital prison were synthesized. The Daegu Provincial Police Agency, which investigated the case, concluded that “it is considered that there is no fact that Professor Chae tried to buy sexual exploits from Telegram.” Police are currently tracking digital prison operators.

Professor Chae said in a telephone interview with Bonji: “It was a painful moment to shake my identity as a psychiatrist.” It is a profession that treats heart ailments by building trust and bonds with patients, and as a result of being stigmatized as a sex offender, credibility as a doctor collapsed. Professor Chae said: “The patient who was treated for depression from me was living well after recovering from depression thanks to the teacher, but it hurts and gets depressed again because the teacher did that. I contacted him with “Who should I trust now?” And I said, “It was a painful moment that seemed to tear my heart apart.”

In many cases, patients who had made appointments did not show up, and the conference that asked him to give a conference sometimes canceled the conference. Professor Chae said: “I can complain to my family or close acquaintances and they can recognize it, but I cannot explain it to 4,000 hospital employees and patients,” said Professor Chae. “I seek help from fellow trauma specialists. I took it and endured day by day.”

Professor Chae said, seeing the case of a prestigious university student in Seoul who made an extreme decision after his personal image was uploaded in a digital prison, he said: “I do not know the circumstances of the student, but I felt sorry for how long I would have suffered. ” I was anxious, but I was wondering how difficult my young friend was. “

Professor Chae raised the voice that digital prisons, which take captured false photos and post false facts on the Internet, are also a problem, but the awareness of those who accept and carry out false facts certainly needs to be improved. Professor Chae said: “It is a serious crime to threaten people with death based on unconfirmed facts. It is necessary to raise the alarm in society so that people do not participate in such crimes by hiding their anonymity.”