Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
As deepfake sex crimes surge, Korea's response struggles to keep pace
Panelists take part in a discussion at a forum on digital sex crimes in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Amnesty International Korea
By Jung Min-ho
Experts cite teenage suspects, overseas-platform barriers as key challenges
Korea has strengthened criminal penalties and takedown systems for digital sex crimes, but experts warn that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is creating widening gaps between the speed of online abuse and the ability of institutions to stop it.
At a forum on the issue, hosted Thursday by Amnesty International Korea, a police officer, a legislative researcher and a media regulator said deepfake technology has made it possible to create and distribute sexualized images of real people with little technical knowledge, often through overseas platforms beyond the reach of Korean authorities.
“Crimes exploiting new technologies erupt across society, but the law is always running behind them. While the justice system is still trying to identify and punish offenders, victims’ lives are already being devastated online,” said Heo Min-sook, a researcher at the National Assembly Research Service.
Police data presented at the forum showed that deepfake-related offenses were the largest category of cybersex crimes detected during a 2025 crackdown, accounting for 1,553 cases, or 35.2 percent of the total.
“Deepfakes are increasingly at the center of digital sex crimes,” said Cho Seung-no, a team leader of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s cybercrime investigation division. “With just a few prompts, offenders can generate videos to their specifications using AI tools that are remarkably easy to access.”
Perhaps one of the most concerning trends is an increase in the number of young offenders. Data indicate that teenagers accounted for nearly half of those apprehended during a 2025 crackdown. Of the 3,557 people apprehended, 1,761, or 47.6 percent, were in their teens. More than 90 percent of suspects in deepfake cases were in their teens or 20s.
“What is most alarming is that many young people lack a sense of wrongdoing,” Cho said. “Many appear to have treated these acts as entertainment to share among friends without recognizing that they are committing a crime … In many cases, young suspects say they did not realize it was a serious offense.”
This trend also highlights the limits of a response centered mainly on punishment. Because many suspects are legal minors and subject to the juvenile justice system, speakers called for stronger education on digital citizenship and the harm caused by sexual deepfakes.
The most urgent and challenging task in minimizing the harm caused by such illegal content is preventing its spread and securing its removal once it appears online. But police and online-content regulators said their efforts are frequently slowed by overseas platforms, over which Korean authorities have limited power to compel cooperation.
Police sent 26,697 data requests to foreign messaging services and platform operators, but received responses to only about 15,466, or 58 percent, data shows.
“For overseas sites, even if we request that content be removed, compliance is rare,” said Kim Byung-joon, the leader of the Korea Communications Standards Commission’s proliferation prevention team. “There is no practical way to compel them to do so.”
In such cases, the commission asks domestic internet service providers to block access to illegal content in Korea. But the original content may remain online and can continue to be accessed or redistributed through foreign servers and content delivery networks.
As for possible solutions, police called for the creation of dedicated liaison offices, or “Korean desks,” in countries where major platforms are based. Cho also urged Korea to join the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, an international treaty designed to facilitate cross-border cooperation in cybercrime investigations. Korea has yet to join it, despite receiving a formal invitation from the Council of Europe in 2023.