Adolescents Deepfake Unusual Judgment...Criticism of "mechanical interpretation"

Men in Their 20s 'Deep Fake' With Minors Face...Retrial
The second trial said, "Isn't it sexual exploitation of children and adolescents?"Turn judgment upside down
Second trial found only the Sexual Violence Punishment Act with a lower sentence guilty
Prosecutors "need to discipline acquaintances with contempt..."You have to acknowledge sexual exploitation".

[Anchor]
A court ruled that obscene composites made by synthesizing photos of minors cannot be considered sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.

It's because there was no direct sexual abuse, and it's obvious that it's a compound.

Some say that if the victim was sexually objectified and suffered, the composite should also be viewed as sexual exploitation, which is a mechanical interpretation.

Reporter Kim Da-hyun reports.

[Reporter]
A man in his 20s was put on trial last year on charges of synthesizing the face of a junior, a minor, and a nude photo of another woman.

He committed the so-called "deepfake" crime.

The prosecution judged that the compound made by A was a sexual exploitation of children and adolescents under the Youth Sex Protection Act, and in May, the first trial accepted it and sentenced A to three years in prison and five years of probation.

However, the second trial decided differently, saying that it cannot be viewed as sexual exploitation of children and adolescents.

It is not a composite in which a real person appears, but an unnatural composite photo, and it is qualitatively different from the sexual exploitation in which actual adolescents appear because there is no direct sexual abuse.

At the same time, he admitted only charges such as spreading false videos under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act and reduced his sentence to two and a half years in prison and three years of probation.

The prosecution immediately appealed.

In order to severely punish the so-called "humiliation of acquaintances," it should be recognized as a sexual exploitation of children and adolescents with a stronger level of punishment.

He argued that if the most important body part, the face, appeared in the composite, it sexually objectified the victim, who is an adolescent, and violated the right to personality.

[Lee Eun-eui / A lawyer specializing in sex crimes: My face is attached, and I mock you for that and make me a sexual object like this. This is actually the purpose of seeing it. But the court is interpreting this very mechanically.]

The number of deepfake crimes surged sharply from 156 in 2021 to 297 in the first seven months of this year.

If the victims are children and adolescents, the emotional damage may be greater,
Attention is focusing on whether the Supreme Court will accept the prosecution's claim that juvenile rights and interests should be considered first when applying the
Youth Sex Protection Act.

I'm YTN's Kim Dahyun.

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Image: Electronic
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