Police Agency: "Deepfake Distributors Will Be Tracked and Punished to the End"

Advance Notice of Special Intensive Crackdown
Concurrent Preventive Activities for Youth

The National Police Agency (National Investigation Headquarters) announced on the 27th that it will conduct a special intensive crackdown until March next year to eradicate deepfake sex crimes.

Deepfake is a compound word of Deep Learning and Fake, an AI-based image synthesis technology that creates images by overlaying existing photos or videos onto other photos or videos. As a result, the threat of deepfake sex crimes has significantly increased, such as synthesizing nude photos targeting acquaintances or celebrities' everyday photos or videos. In some cases, participants have been sharing false videos by finding common acquaintances from specific regions and schools, making the crime methods more specific and systematic. The actual number of crimes involving false videos has increased from 156 cases in 2021 to 297 cases as of July 2024.

The police plan to actively crack down on these crimes centered on the Cyber Sexual Violence Investigation Teams of the city and provincial police agencies, thoroughly tracking and arresting from the production to the distribution of deepfakes. If the deepfake target is a child or adolescent, it falls under child and youth sexual exploitation materials, and stricter punishment will be applied under the Youth Protection Act. In addition, to prevent digital sex crimes such as deepfakes among teenagers, school police officers (SPO) will lead prevention activities including crime intelligence collection, case-based preventive education to raise awareness, and publicity.

The National Police Agency stated, "Deepfake sex crimes are serious offenses that destroy the dignity of the victims," and added, "We will do our best to eradicate these crimes at their root and alleviate the public's anxiety."