Three Years in Prison, Five-Year Suspension
Faces Taken from SNS Photos Used for Deepfake Creation
A man in his 20s who created deepfake pornographic videos containing the faces of female high school juniors was sentenced to prison with a suspended sentence.
On the 25th, Yonhap News reported that Jeong Eun-young, Chief Judge of Criminal Division 1 at Cheonan Branch of Daejeon District Court, sentenced A (20), who was arrested and indicted on charges including violation of the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes (editing of false videos), to three years in prison with a five-year suspension. The court also ordered A to be banned from employment at institutions related to children, adolescents, and persons with disabilities for three years each.
A, a university student, was tried for allegedly distributing synthesized images by combining the faces of three female high school juniors with the nude bodies of others 11 times between March and June last year in the dormitory of his university. He captured the faces from photos posted by the victims on social networking services (SNS) and used them to create the synthesized materials for the crimes.
The court pointed out, "The guilt is heavy as the defendant produced multiple false videos using the photos of the three victims and widely distributed them on SNS." Regarding the sentencing, the court explained, "However, the sentence was determined considering that some victims reached settlements."
Meanwhile, so-called 'acquaintance humiliation' crimes, where pornographic materials are created by synthesizing photos of acquaintances' faces, continue to occur.
On the 23rd, a group that sexually exploited 234 men and women, including 159 minors, under the name 'Jagyeongdan' was arrested by the police on Telegram. The Cyber Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency arrested 14 members of the so-called Jagyeongdan organization and detained B (33), who called himself a 'pastor' and acted as the ringleader. The group included 11 teenagers under the age of 19, such as one 15-year-old middle school student and six high school students.
According to the police, B formed Jagyeongdan in May 2020 and is accused of creating sexually exploitative materials targeting 234 victims (84 males and 154 females), sexually assaulting them through threats and psychological control. Among the victims, 159 were minors (57 males and 102 females). B approached men interested in 'acquaintance humiliation' on SNS and women expressing sexual curiosity, obtained their personal information via Telegram, and psychologically controlled them by threatening to distribute the information.
The police began tracking Jagyeongdan in December 2023 after receiving reports from victims but faced difficulties in the investigation due to Telegram's non-cooperation. After pressuring and persuading the Telegram operators, the police received crime-related data in September last year and arrested A at his home in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, on the 15th of this month. This is the first time Telegram has complied with a Korean police investigation request.
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