South Korea: House committee approves bill to toughen punishment for digital sex crimes against teens

Seoul, Sept. 19 (SocialNews.XYZ) A parliamentary subcommittee on Thursday passed a bill calling for tougher penalties for digital sex crimes involving the use of deepfake technologies against children and teenagers.

During a legislative review subcommittee session, the National Assembly’s Gender Equality and Family Committee made the bipartisan decision to adopt the revision of the Law on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences, Yonhap News Agency reported.

The bill provides for a minimum of three years in prison for blackmailing young people with sexually abusive material and five years in prison for coercing young people with such material.

Under current law, intimidation with sexually exploitative material carries a prison sentence of at least one year and coercion carries a prison sentence of at least three years.

The subcommittee also approved the revision of the Sexual Violence Prevention Act, which calls for greater government responsibility in supporting victims.

The measure was taken after South Korea saw a surge in deepfake porn videos using photos of young or underage girls in group chat rooms. Many of the victims were teenagers.

“The ruling and opposition parties joined hands to address the public’s concerns over the increasing deepfake cases. We will work together to pass them during this regular session,” said Rep. Kim Sang-wook of the ruling People Power Party.

According to the Ministry of Education, a total of 434 cases of harm caused by deepfakes have been reported in schools this year, involving underage students and teachers.

Source: IANS

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