Anchor: The South Korean government is seeking to devise ways to clamp down on an alarming surge in deepfake crimes involving both victims and perpetrators who are underage. New data finds that the nation’s teenagers were more exposed to the danger of digital sex crimes using deepfake technology even before the recent uptick in related crimes.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more. 

Report: Education minister Lee Ju-ho on Friday sat down for talks with principals of several elementary, middle and high schools amid growing concerns over such crimes involving deepfake technology.

Lee said the education ministry will set up an emergency task force to investigate and handle deepfake crimes in schools as well as to provide psychological support to victims and strengthen preventive education campaigns.

This comes amid an alarming report that shows six out of ten victims in deepfake sex crimes in the past three years were minors.  

According to data submitted by the Korean National Police Agency(KNPA) to main opposition Democratic Party(DP) lawmaker Yang Bu-nam on Friday, 59-point-eight percent of people who fell victim to deepfake porn videos between 2021 and 2023 were in their teens.

The data also found that teen victims of deepfake porn videos climbed three-point-four times from 2021 to 2023.

The number of teenage suspects charged with creating such illicit content also jumped from 65-point-four percent in 2021 to 75-point-eight percent in 2023. The figure from January to July this year stood at 73-point-six percent.

Meanwhile, the government decided during a meeting on tackling deepfake crimes on Friday to pursue the enactment of a law that penalizes the possession, purchase and watching of deepfake and other falsified and fabricated videos.

The government also plans to seek revisions to related laws to slap heavier punishment on the production and distribution of deepfake materials before devising by October a comprehensive set of measures to tackle related crimes. 

Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.