Prosecutors charge teen with possession, distribution of deepfake image

An image generated by ChatGPT depicts anonymous users using Telegram. (CHATGPT)

Prosecutors announced Tuesday that they have charged a teenager with possessing and sharing a deepfake photo, as Korea ramps up efforts to combat a rise in deepfake sex crimes.

According to the Incheon Public Prosecutor’s Office, the high school student was charged without arrest last Friday with possessing and distributing child exploitation content. He is accused of sharing a deepfake photo that synthesized a teenage girl’s face onto a naked body — which he obtained online from an unknown man — and sending the photo to the victim’s boyfriend last December.

According to the Public Prosecution Service, the victim and the perpetrator did not know each other.

The victim reported the matter to police after receiving the photo from an anonymous source via X, formerly known as Twitter. Police are still looking for the anonymous source.

Initially, Incheon police referred the case to prosecutors, charging the perpetrator with violating the Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes Act — without classifying the photo as child sexual exploitation material. However, prosecutors later added charges under the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sexual Offenses Act, concluding that the distributed content constituted child sexual exploitation material.

Prosecutors said the photo clearly showed that the victim was a minor and that it caused embarrassment because intimate body parts were visible.

Those convicted of possessing child pornography can face at least a year in prison, while distribution carries a minimum sentence of three years. Such penalties are significantly harsher than those under the Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes Act, which warrants up to five years in prison or fines of up to 50 million won ($37,000) for distributing synthesized sexual content.

According to data from the National Police Agency shared by the office of liberal Democratic Party (DP) Rep. Yang Bu-nam, nearly 60 percent of victims of deepfake sex crimes in the past three years were minors. Of the 527 victims of deepfake sex crimes from 2021 to 2023, 315 were teenagers, the data showed.

During a five-day campaign last week, a total of 118 reports of deepfake content were received by police. Seven of the perpetrators were arrested, six of whom were teenagers. Police said they will continue their intensive campaign until March next year.

The crackdown, which began last week, follows President Yoon Suk Yeol’s order to “eradicate” the problem.

The government has also announced plans to introduce new rules that would criminalize not only the possession and purchase of deepfake videos, but also the viewing of them.

Both the DP and the conservative People Power Party said they would each set up a task force to respond quickly to the problem and draw up measures. The two rival party leaders also agreed to jointly implement measures to punish, prevent and curb crimes related to deepfake content during their first official talks on Sunday.

BY LEE CHAN-KYU, CHO JUNG-WOO ([email protected])