Democratic Party Deepfake Special Committee to Promote Party Policy on Digital Sex Crime Laws

Kim Han-gyu "Goal is to handle it in the regular National Assembly session"

The Democratic Party's Special Committee on Deepfake Sexual Crimes and Digital Sexual Violence Eradication (Deepfake Special Committee) has announced its plan to push forward pending bills related to digital sexual crimes as party policy and process them. The target timeline for handling these bills is within the current regular session of the National Assembly.

On the morning of the 19th, Chu Mi-ae, the chairperson, is speaking at the 2nd meeting and launch ceremony of the Democratic Party of Korea's Deepfake Sexual Crime and Digital Sexual Violence Eradication Committee held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

Kim Han-gyu, the Democratic Party lawmaker and secretary of the Deepfake Special Committee, met with reporters on the 19th after the committee's second meeting and launch ceremony held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul. He said, "In a closed meeting, we discussed the bills related to digital sexual crimes that have been submitted to the National Assembly's Women and Family Committee (WFC), Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee (STIBC), and Legislation and Judiciary Committee (LJC)." He added, "We plan to coordinate mainly through the secretaries of the standing committees and prepare a special committee proposal to be promoted as party policy."

The plan is to process the bills within this year's regular session of the National Assembly. Since the national audit will take place next month, it is expected that the special committee's proposal will pass the plenary session of the National Assembly as early as November. Lawmaker Kim said, "It seems realistically difficult to process the bills within the September session," adding, "Because the bills span multiple standing committees, some bills may pass the standing committees in September, but the goal is to handle all of them during this regular session." However, the ruling and opposition parties have agreed that the bills pending in the Women and Family Committee will be passed in the plenary meeting within next week. The Legislation and Judiciary Committee is also scheduled to hold its first subcommittee meeting next week to handle bills related to digital sexual crimes.

The Deepfake Special Committee also plans to visit sites related to deepfake sexual crimes to hear the voices of citizens. Lawmaker Kim said, "The specific location will be decided at a closed meeting on the 22nd," adding, "It is necessary to meet with civic group activists and experts in the form of a current issues briefing to hear the stories of those who actually come into contact with victims." The location will be selected from institutions that provide counseling for digital sexual crime victims and support the deletion of sexual-related videos, or from schools where victimized students or teachers are present.

The Deepfake Special Committee was established last month following instructions from Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, who was bedridden after testing positive for COVID-19, to devise countermeasures. The committee is divided into two subgroups: the Institutional Improvement Team and the Field Voices Team. Furthermore, to comprehensively address digital sexual crimes, the Deepfake Special Committee includes members from various standing committees such as the Women and Family Committee, Legislation and Judiciary Committee, Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee, and the Public Administration and Security Committee.

On this day, lawmakers participating in the Deepfake Special Committee pointed out that the government and ruling party bear responsibility for digital sexual crimes. Chu Mi-ae, a Democratic Party lawmaker and chairperson of the Deepfake Special Committee, stated at the second meeting and launch ceremony, "After the inauguration of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, then-Minister of Justice Han Dong-hoon disbanded the Ministry of Justice's task force team for responding to sexual crimes," adding, "The government has downplayed and neglected the seriousness of digital sexual crimes."