Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks at a Cabinet meeting held at the Government Complex Seoul on Thursday. (Yonhap)
The Cabinet on Thursday approved a revision of a bill to punish both the possession and viewing of deepfake pornography.
The revision of the law calls to punish individuals who are caught possessing, purchasing, storing or viewing sexually explicit deepfake content and other fabricated videos with up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won ($22,200). The law has recently faced criticism following a recent chain of deepfake pornography crimes for failing to punish those who download or watch sexually explicit deepfakes.
Additionally, the revised bill will also punish the production and distribution of pornographic materials generated through deepfake technology by up to seven years in prison. Currently, the law punishes such acts by only up to five years in prison.
In the case of deepfake porn created for the purpose of dissemination, the penalty was also strengthened from imprisonment of up to seven years to a prison term that is longer than three years. Those who use sexually exploitative deepfake material for blackmail can also face imprisonment of more than one year.
Other than the revision to the law punishing sexual crimes, the Cabinet also passed revision bills to the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act, which specifies the government’s responsibility to delete illegally filmed materials and to help victims return to everyday life.
Revisions were additionally made to the Juvenile Protection Act to strengthen police investigations into sexually exploitative material targeting minors as well as punishment of perpetrators.
The revision of the bills is to be implemented immediately following President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval.
At Thursday’s Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo stated that the government “will conduct an intensive crackdown on deepfake sexual crimes” by the end of March 2025.
“The government is currently prioritizing urgent matters, such as investigating the status of (deepfake pornography) damage in schools and establishing a communication hotline with Telegram,” said Han. The government has looked to establish a communication hotline with Telegram to quickly communicate with the messaging service to react more quickly to incidents involving sexually exploitative deepfakes since Aug. 27.
Han added that the government is taking additional measures, such as “establishing a pangovernmental task force centered on the Office for Government Policy Coordination” to strengthen punishment of perpetrators and victim support while also increasing accountability for online platforms for the spread of deepfake pornography content.
“One of the biggest challenges in dealing with deepfake sex crimes is that many of the perpetrators are minors, who lack awareness that the production and distribution of such sexually falsified content are a serious crime,” mentioned Han. “Therefore, it is crucial for relevant ministries, such as the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, to actively engage in educating and spreading awareness to students, their parents and the general public that such acts are indeed a serious crime.”
Meanwhile, the Korean National Police Agency said 812 cases of deepfake sex crimes had been reported to police nationwide as of Sept. 26. Of the 387 suspects who were arrested, 324 were minors -- accounting for 83.7 percent.
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