The Alarming Rise of Deepfake Pornography in South Korea

The Rise of Deepfake Pornography in South Korea

In 2020, as South Korean authorities actively pursued a blackmail ring that coerced young women into creating sexually explicit videos for paying viewers, they stumbled upon a disturbing trend lurking within the shadows of social media: the emergence of pornographic images featuring the faces of unsuspecting individuals crudely superimposed onto explicit bodies. Initially, law enforcement was uncertain about how to handle these early manifestations of deepfake pornography. Ultimately, the National Assembly responded by enacting a vaguely worded law targeting the production and distribution of such content. However, this legislative action did little to curb a burgeoning crime wave fueled by artificial intelligence technology, plunging the nation’s already misogynistic online culture into deeper turmoil.

In just the past few weeks, South Koreans have been horrified to learn that a growing number of young men and teenage boys have been utilizing hundreds of social media images featuring classmates, teachers, and military personnel—predominantly young women and minors—to create sexually exploitative images and videos using deepfake applications. These illicit materials have been disseminated through various chat rooms on the encrypted messaging platform Telegram, some boasting memberships as high as 220,000.

The deepfakes typically merge a victim’s face with a body engaged in sexually explicit acts, often sourced from existing pornography. Investigators note that the technology has advanced to such a degree that it can be challenging for the average person to discern the fakes from reality. As South Korea races to confront this new threat, experts have observed that the nation’s enthusiasm for pioneering technologies often overshadows the ethical concerns they may present.

For many women in South Korea, these deepfakes represent merely the latest manifestation of a deeply entrenched misogyny that permeates the culture. This has fostered an environment where young men find amusement in circulating degrading and sexually humiliating images of women online. “Korean society doesn’t treat women as fellow human beings,” expressed Lee Yu-jin, a student from a university that, like hundreds of middle schools, high schools, and colleges across the country, has seen students fall victim to such exploitation. She lamented the lack of proactive measures from the government, questioning, “Why hasn’t more been done to prevent this from becoming a digital culture where stealing and abusing photos of friends for sexual humiliation is normalized?”