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Over 90% of individuals apprehended by the police through July on suspicion of creating or distributing pornographic deepfakes (images altered with AI technology) are in their teens or 20s, Korean police data shows.

Korea’s National Police Agency announced on Tuesday that 297 reports had been filed about sex crimes involving deepfakes and other faked images in June and July, with 178 suspects apprehended in 147 of those cases.

The apprehended suspects included 131 people in their teens (73.6%) and 36 in their 20s (20.2%). In other words, 9 out of 10 suspects in crimes involving manipulated images were in their teens or 20s. There were only 10 suspects (5.6%) in their 30s and one (0.6%) in their 40s.

The police have recently been focusing resources on crimes involving deepfakes, enabling them to accelerate the pace of arrests.

Victims filed 118 reports around the country in just five days, between Aug. 26 and 30, after extensive media coverage of sexually explicit illicit deepfakes being distributed on Telegram.

The police said they have identified 33 criminal suspects in those cases, 31 of whom are in their teens. The police have arrested seven of those suspects, six being teenagers.

Considering how many of the suspects of deepfake sex crimes are in their teens, questions arise about how severe their punishments will be. Under Korean law, minors under the age of 14 are not subject to criminal prosecution. However, family courts may still sentence juvenile delinquents between the ages of 10 and 14 to community service or send them to juvenile detention centers.

The police’s current campaign against deepfake sex crimes, which began on Aug. 28, will continue for seven months, through March 2025. Through the campaign, the police hope to track down and apprehend all those suspected of creating and distributing illegal deepfake pornography.

By Lee Ji-hye, staff reporter

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