In a blazing revelation earlier this month, short track speedskater and Olympic champion Shim Suk-hee claimed that former national speedskating coach Cho Jae-beom raped and physically abused her multiple times. Now, an ongoing investigation has yielded what may be supporting evidence.
According to an investigation conducted by police into serious allegations put forth against former national short track speedskating coach Cho Jae-beom (38), the coach asked Shim Suk-hee (21) to use a secret messaging app Telegram to communicate for years.
Telegram is a secure messenger app that works across multiple operating systems including iOS, Android, and Windows and used on corresponding devices including personal computers, phones, and tablets. Further, the qualities that make the service so appealing, including privacy with a self-destruct feature, security, and encryption take on a more insidious characteristic in light of the investigation.
According to an SBS report on the matter, the police are investigating the reason behind Cho using the secure messenger. In particular, whether it was used to hide or eliminate evidence of coercion, intimidation, or physical or sexual assault. Because of the security feature that Telegram has, the recovery of the message exchanged between the two may be arduous.
Even so, following Shim’s statement released earlier this month, the police confiscated Cho’s mobile phone are conducting a digital forensics investigation. Digital Forensics is a method of investigation that analyzes various digital information and finds clues related to criminal activity.
Moreover, police plan to continue to investigate Cho as soon as they finish analyzing the evidence. Currently, Cho is serving time in prison due to a separate case where he was found guilty of physically abusing four short track speed skaters. Notably, Shim was also one of the claimants on that case, too.
On the other hand, Cho legal representative said in a telephone interview with JoonAng Ilbo that Shim’s claims are groundless. Moreover, the coach is embarrassed by what is being said about him in these media reports.
Translated by O.C
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