The president of South Korea has called on authorities to intensify efforts to combat the nation’s rising digital sex crime crisis, as deepfake pornography targeting young women proliferates.
Recent investigations have uncovered numerous chat groups where users create and exchange explicit deepfake images, including those of underage individuals.
Deepfakes, generated via artificial intelligence, often merge the face of a real person with a digitally altered body.
To address these alarming findings, South Korea’s media regulator will convene an emergency meeting.
Underage Victims
President Yoon Suk Yeol has directed officials to conduct thorough investigations into these digital sex crimes to eliminate them completely.
During a cabinet meeting, he noted that “deepfake videos targeting an unspecified number of people have been circulating rapidly on social media.” He emphasized that “the victims are often minors, while the perpetrators are primarily teenagers.”
The recent surfacing of chat groups, associated with various schools and universities, was revealed on a popular messaging application over the past week.
Teenage students would upload images of peers and faculty members, which were then transformed into explicit deepfake content by other users.
These developments follow the recent arrest of a prominent figure linked to investigations into child exploitation and trafficking.
National Emergency
South Korea is grappling with a troubling legacy of digital sex crimes.
In a notable 2019 scandal, dubbed the nth-room incident, men used a messaging service to extort women into sexual acts, ultimately leading to the conviction of the group’s leader for 42 years.
The surge in online deepfake sexual crimes has become a significant concern, with police reporting 297 cases in the first seven months of this year, a sharp rise from last year’s total of 180 and 160 in 2021. Notably, teenagers accounted for over two-thirds of these offenses.
The Korean Teachers Union indicates that over 200 educational institutions are impacted by the latest incidents, with the number of deepfakes aimed at teachers rising substantially, as reported by the Ministry of Education.
A prominent women’s rights activist has urged the government to declare a “national emergency” regarding the deepfake pornography crisis.
She pointed out the ease of creating harmful deepfake materials and the lack of verification for users entering these chatrooms, highlighting the prevalence of these incidents in schools across the nation.
Government Criticism
To foster a “healthy media culture,” President Yoon emphasized the need for better education among young men.
He stressed that actions often dismissed as harmless pranks are, in fact, serious criminal offenses that use technology to exploit anonymity.
While a meeting will be held to address the current crisis, critics question the government’s capacity to effectively tackle these issues, especially concerning deep-seated gender discrimination.
Prior to taking office, President Yoon dismissed claims of systemic gender discrimination, despite substantial evidence indicating otherwise. Women occupy only 5.8% of executive roles in publicly listed companies in South Korea, and they earn, on average, one-third less than their male counterparts, solidifying the country’s status as having the worst gender pay gap among wealthy nations.
Compounding this challenge, a widespread culture of sexual harassment has been exacerbated by the booming tech industry, contributing to a rise in digital sex crimes, including the disturbing trend of hidden camera recordings without consent.
