South Korea is facing a sharp rise in digital sex crimes involving teenagers, with deepfake-related offenses increasing at an alarming rate, according to new police data.
Figures released by the National Police Agency (NPA) and compiled by Rep. Kang Kyung-sook of the Rebuilding Korea Party show that sex crimes committed by minors nearly doubled in just four years, rising from 2,688 in 2020 to over 4,260 in 2024. A particularly striking trend is the explosion of deepfake-related sex crimes, which jumped tenfold from 52 cases in 2022 to 548 in 2024.
The data revealed that nearly 79 percent of those accused of deepfake sex crimes this year — 251 out of 318 individuals — were teenagers. The pace of offenses has also accelerated: in just the first eight months of 2024, 556 teenagers were accused of deepfake-related crimes, already surpassing last year’s totals.
Deepfake technology, which uses artificial intelligence to create realistic but fabricated images and videos, has increasingly been misused to generate sexually exploitative content. Police say that minors are responsible for a majority of these crimes, highlighting both accessibility to the technology and a lack of awareness about its legal and social consequences.
In addition to deepfake cases, more traditional forms of digital sex crimes — such as illegal filming and distributing intimate images without consent — have steadily increased among teenagers. The number of minors accused of sex crimes involving illegal filming rose from 710 in 2020 to 1,372 in 2023, marking almost a doubling over the period.
The Ministry of Education’s 2023 survey of 2,145 middle and high school students underscored a troubling perception gap. Among middle school students, 62.2 percent believed deepfakes were made “as a prank,” while nearly half of high school students (47.7 percent) expressed a similar view. Experts warn that such attitudes trivialize the seriousness of digital sexual exploitation, normalizing behavior that causes lasting harm to victims.
Rep. Kang Kyung-sook, who compiled the report, voiced concern about the lack of adequate preventative measures. “There is growing concern over crimes using deepfake technology, but there are not enough measures to effectively curb such crimes,” Kang said. “We must ensure that children are educated about how serious digital sex crimes are.”
Despite the overall surge in deepfake offenses, the broader category of teenage sex crimes saw a slight decline in recent years. After peaking at 4,578 in 2022, total cases dropped to 4,260 in 2024. While this reduction may suggest some improvement in curbing traditional offenses, the rapid increase in technologically driven crimes shows that new challenges are emerging.
Law enforcement and policymakers are now grappling with how to adapt legal frameworks and educational programs to address the evolving landscape of digital crime. Advocates stress that punishment alone will not deter young offenders, particularly when so many perceive deepfake creation as harmless experimentation. Instead, comprehensive digital literacy and ethics education may be key to shifting attitudes before behaviors escalate into criminal acts.
The rise in deepfake-related sex crimes has also renewed calls for international cooperation. Because deepfake content can spread rapidly online, often across borders, experts argue that South Korea cannot tackle the problem alone. Collaborative efforts in regulation, detection, and removal of exploitative content are becoming increasingly necessary.
As South Korea continues to confront this growing crisis, the combination of stricter enforcement, targeted education, and public awareness campaigns may prove crucial in stemming the tide of digital sex crimes committed by teenagers. For now, however, the statistics paint a troubling picture: technology that once promised creative innovation has become a dangerous tool in the hands of many young offenders.
