1. The Inherent Seriousness of Deepfake Sex Crimes and the Tightening Net of Punishment

With recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology, deepfake sex crimes, in which a specific person's face is synthesized into pornographic material, have emerged as a serious social problem. Those who commit these crimes often begin out of curiosity or visual fantasy. For the victim, however, the sexual humiliation and distress of seeing an ordinary everyday photo turned into a fabricated sexual image is no less severe than that suffered in a sexual assault involving physical contact, and it can leave permanent scars. 

In step with the gravity of these crimes, Article 14-2 of the current Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes provides that anyone who edits, synthesizes, or distributes footage against the subject's will shall be punished by imprisonment of up to seven years or a fine of up to KRW 50 million. In particular, through Paragraph 4 of the same article, newly added in October 2024, a tightly woven net of punishment was established that cuts off demand at its source, allowing imprisonment of up to three years even for those who merely possess, purchase, store, or view such footage without directly producing or distributing it.

2. The Supreme Court's New Practical Standard on Deepfakes Targeting Children and Youth 

Amid this trend toward stricter punishment, the Supreme Court recently issued a practically significant ruling on whether deepfake footage constitutes 'child or youth sexual exploitation material' under the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses (Supreme Court Decision 2024Do17801, decided August 14, 2025). The Court held that so-called deepfake footage, in which the face of a real child or youth is synthesized onto a nude photograph of an unidentified person, is merely an image created by its maker and cannot be regarded as depicting a real person engaging in sexual conduct; accordingly, as a rule, it does not constitute 'sexual exploitation material in which a child or youth appears' under Article 2, Subparagraph 5 of the Act. 

In other words, the Court made clear that Article 14-2 of the Sexual Crimes Punishment Act, rather than the Youth Sex Protection Act (the Child and Youth Act) with its extremely severe penalties of life imprisonment or a fixed term of at least five years, is the provision primarily applied. However, the Court also closed a potential loophole by clarifying that where, taking into account the appearance, physical development, and actual age of the person depicted in the synthesized image as well as the circumstances of its production, the result constitutes 'an expression clearly recognizable as a child or youth,' the Youth Sex Protection Act may still be strictly applied.

3. The Importance of Rigorous Legal Analysis in an Increasingly Harsh Judicial Environment 

The stance of this latest Supreme Court precedent indicates that while the courts maintain a firm resolve to punish deepfake sex crimes severely, they are also distinguishing with great precision between the applicable provisions and the gravity of each case, in accordance with the principle of strict construction of penal statutes. 

As the elements of these offenses become more finely subdivided and the judicial environment grows this complex, emotional appeals or vague responses inevitably fall short. Therefore, anyone implicated in such a matter must, from the earliest stage of the investigation, obtain an objective and accurate legal analysis of which provision the footage in question falls under and of the specific nature of the conduct and the criminal intent (mens rea) involved. (Attorney Shin Dong-woo, DAEON Law Firm)

Source: MediaFine (https://www.mediafine.co.kr)