Ministry of Gender Equality Expands Digital Sexual Violence Response Center for 'Deepfake Countermeasures'... Increasing Staff and Budget

Strengthening Punishment and Deletion Laws
Increasing Digital Sexual Violence Center Staff to 33
Unifying Digital Sexual Crime Reporting Hotline '1366'

As the government announced measures to strengthen responses to deepfake sex crimes, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the main agency responsible for addressing violence against women, has established Digital Sexual Crime Victim Support Centers (DiSeong Centers) nationwide and laid the legal groundwork to strengthen punishment for sexual exploitation materials involving children and adolescents. The reporting channels for digital sex crimes will also be unified.

On the afternoon of the 6th, immediately after the joint announcement by related ministries, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family held a separate back briefing to explain these details.

Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Government Seoul Office. Photo by Hyunmin Kim.

First, the contents of the amendments to the Youth Protection Act and the Sexual Violence Prevention Act, which passed the National Assembly on September 26, were included. New punishment standards were established for crimes involving threats or coercion using sexual exploitation materials targeting children and adolescents. Under the current Sexual Violence Punishment Act, threats using sexual exploitation materials are punishable by imprisonment of one year or more, and coercion by imprisonment of three years or more. The amendments stipulate that if such crimes are committed against children and adolescents, the penalties will be increased to imprisonment of three years or more and five years or more, respectively.

Additionally, through the amendment of the Sexual Violence Prevention Act, it has become possible to promptly delete deepfake sexual exploitation materials. The amendment expands the entities responsible for supporting the deletion of illegal recordings from the state to local governments and allows support for deleting victims' personal information. Legal grounds were also established to install DiSeong Centers in each local government.

Provided by the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

Along with this, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family is promoting AI (artificial intelligence) deletion automation in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and ICT. They plan to automate processes such as real-time detection of deepfake recordings through AI, sending deletion requests to service providers, and monitoring whether deletions have been carried out. Furthermore, the role of DiSeong Centers, which are responsible for supporting the deletion of digital sexual exploitation materials, will be strengthened. To this end, the number of staff will be increased, and budget expansion will be pursued. Noh Hyun-seo, Director of the Digital Sexual Crime Prevention Division at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, explained, "Currently, among the regular staff at DiSeong Centers, 18 are responsible for deletion, and the rest are separate counseling personnel. Including the addition of two new staff members, the total will be increased to 33."

According to the amendments to the Sexual Violence Prevention Act, 17 regional DiSeong Centers will be established and operated by expanding and reorganizing specialized counseling centers and regional support agencies. These centers will provide in-person counseling and healing programs. In addition, the central DiSeong Center will be expanded and reorganized into a central response center, serving as a hub for monitoring illegal videos, deletion, and victim support.

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has also unified the reporting channels related to digital sex crimes. Director Noh stated, "There used to be separate reporting numbers for DiSeong Centers, regional support agencies, and specialized counseling centers, but now they have been integrated into '1366.' We aim to provide one-stop support so that victims can receive counseling and guidance on how to report." Furthermore, a dedicated website for reporting will be separately established starting next year.

Additionally, the Ministry plans to strengthen digital sex crime education at youth facilities under its jurisdiction. Preventive education will also be conducted in military and public institutions. At the local government level, indicators related to digital sex crime response will be newly introduced in joint evaluations to strengthen the capacity of local governments in responding to and managing digital sex crimes.