"False Videos Must Be Eradicated"
Kim Soo-kyung, spokesperson for the Presidential Office, stated on the 23rd at the Yongsan Presidential Office building in Seoul that they will respond strongly to the recently circulating 'false manipulated videos of President Yoon Suk-yeol' on social media. [Image source=Yonhap News]
The Presidential Office stated on the 23rd that it plans to "respond strongly" to the spread of false videos featuring President Yoon Suk-yeol on social media. It also urged, "We hope that the entire society will unite to prevent the expansion and reproduction of false manipulated videos ahead of the general election in April."
Spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung said at a briefing at the Yongsan Presidential Office on the same day, "False manipulated videos related to the president are rapidly spreading, and we want to raise awareness about the related reports."
The false video of President Yoon recently spread through social networking services (SNS) such as Meta and TikTok. In the video titled "A virtual confession speech by President Yoon," a figure resembling President Yoon says, "The incompetent and corrupt Yoon Suk-yeol government engaged in privilege, unfairness, fraud, and corruption," and "I, Yoon Suk-yeol, clung to ideology beyond common sense, ruining the Republic of Korea and causing suffering to the people."
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency sent an official letter to the Korea Communications Standards Commission on the 21st, requesting the deletion and blocking of the video.
Spokesperson Kim expressed serious concern about some media outlets labeling the false manipulated video as satire or claiming it is acceptable because it is marked as virtual, stating, "This video is clearly a false manipulated video, and even if it is marked as virtual, edited versions with the virtual mark removed are being widely reproduced online, so it must be eradicated." She added, "The Presidential Office also plans to respond strongly to such false manipulated videos in the future."
On the same day, the Korea Communications Commission held a public-private cooperation meeting with domestic and international platform operators such as Google, Meta, Naver, and Kakao to strengthen self-regulation against deepfake false information. The meeting was organized to discuss immediate preventive measures that platform operators can take after false manipulated information related to celebrities using deepfake technology spread through SNS, causing harm.
Deepfake is a neologism combining "deep" from deep learning and "fake," meaning false. With this year being the "year of global elections," concerns about deepfakes are growing in major countries. In South Korea, ahead of the general election on April 10, a revision to the Public Official Election Act was passed in the National Assembly plenary session in December last year to regulate the indiscriminate use of deepfake videos and other materials for election campaigning during the election period. However, as false videos continue to spread, calls for platforms to strengthen their self-purification efforts are increasing.
The recently circulated 'Fake Manipulated Video of President Yoon Suk-yeol' on social media. The Presidential Office announced on the 23rd that it will respond strongly to the fake manipulated videos related to President Yoon. [Image source=Yonhap News]
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