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Promotional poster for “Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror” (provided by Netflix)

The Netflix documentary “Cyber Hell: Exposing an Internet Horror,” which deals with the so-called “Nth Room” case of criminal online sexual abuse, is garnering attention domestically as well as abroad since its release on the streaming platform.

According to the global streaming content ranking website FlixPatrol, “Cyber Hell” was listed on the website’s top 10 Netflix movies chart in nine countries including South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam on Monday. The documentary even topped the chart in South Korea, Hong Kong, and Vietnam from Friday to Saturday, taking the No. 2 spot on the list in Taiwan and Singapore as well. The film ranked at No. 18 globally among Netflix productions.

K-dramas such as “Squid Game,” “Hellbound,” and “All of Us Are Dead” have previously taken the No. 1 spot for most streamed show on Netflix globally, but South Korean documentaries have never come under such international spotlight.

“Cyber Hell” is drawing attention for covering crimes that took place in South Korea that are still ongoing.

While focusing on ethical representation so as to prevent actual Nth Room victims from incurring further harm, “Cyber Hell” was filmed as an investigative thriller in order to provide a more immersive experience to viewers. In an interview made public on Thursday by Netflix, director Choi Jin-seong said, “From the early stages of planning the film, I wanted to have it feel like a gripping criminal investigation. I felt like that would be a way of really conveying the specific nature of the crimes featured in the documentary, the struggles of the investigators, and the feelings of sympathy toward the victims.”

FlixPatrol rankings (screen capture from FlixPatrol)

A case of organized sexual abuse, the Nth Room case became known in the international community through the coverage of foreign media at the time it was coming to light in South Korea. When Cho Ju-bin, the person behind the “Baksa” (“doctor”) room on Telegram, was arrested in 2020, BBC highlighted an article about the “Nth Room” case on its website’s main page — the article went on to become one of the most read articles on the UK news agency’s website at that time.

Around the same time period, CNN also covered the case in detail, stating in its article about crimes that “for South Koreans, the case has become a lightning rod for a nation grappling with widespread sexual abuse and accusations of pervasive misogyny.”

Meanwhile, when a case of sexual abuse similar to that in South Korea was uncovered in Hong Kong, a local news outlet covered it as the “Hong Kong-version of the ‘Nth Room’ case.”

By Kim Hyo-sil, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]