Concerns about secondary victimization among victims of digital sex crimes

As police have recently received hundreds of reports of the distribution and creation of sexually explicit deepfake images and videos, calls are growing in South Korea for increased protection and harsher punishment for perpetrators.

According to the Korean National Police, authorities have seen a huge increase in reports from victims of deepfake pornography since they announced a seven-month crackdown on digital sex crimes from August 27 to March 31, 2025. As of Tuesday, a total of 118 reports had been filed since August 26 alone, a tenfold increase compared to the number of reports from January to July, which totaled 297 cases over the seven months.

Deepfakes – digitally manipulated or created photos that are indistinguishable from real images – have recently come under criticism after local media reported on numerous Telegram chatrooms linked to specific regions, university campuses, middle and high schools, and military units that are responsible for creating and distributing sexually explicit deepfake content created and manipulated using artificial intelligence.

Following a recent flood of media reports and reports from victims of the crime to the police, some online comments have been spotted claiming that the public and government are “overreacting” to deepfake pornography.

On Wednesday, YTN reported comments under its news posts that said, “Honestly, I don't even understand why deepfake pornography is such a big deal” and “These are just graphics and not real people. Can you really say there are victims here?”

Online forums such as DC Inside have also recently seen several posts claiming that the deepfake pornography controversy has been “blown out of proportion”. One post even stated, “It's more of a bummer that technology hasn't advanced enough to make (deepfake pornography) better”, while there were several other posts containing derogatory comments about the victims and activists who recently took part in protests against deepfake pornography.

“Because such comments diminish the shame and embarrassment that victims of deepfake pornography often feel, they may also constitute a form of secondary victimization,” human rights lawyer Min Go-eun told The Korea Herald.

Outside of the internet, the Gwangju Nambu Police Station was criticized for its deepfake sex crime prevention campaign for using an image of a group pointing fingers at a victim. The Justice Ministry discourages the use of such images because they suggest that victims are responsible for the sex crimes committed against them.

Local media also reported on a middle school in Gwangju where six students were victims of deepfake pornography and said they suffered secondary victimization after failing to separate the perpetrator from them.

The father of one of the victims told Yonhap News Agency that his daughter is “suffering great emotional stress.” He said that students are forced to interact with the perpetrator on their way to and from different classes.

“My daughter is going through a difficult psychological situation because she knows that the guilty student sees her as a sex object and has even said that she wants to transfer to another school,” he said.

Regarding the recent increase in the number of secondary victimization cases among victims of deepfake sex crimes, attorney Min told The Korea Herald that this may be due to the widespread “perception that deepfake sex crimes are taken lightly.”

“To punish a person for secondary victimization, it must be proven that these acts were intended to defame and insult the victim. However, this may be difficult to prove in this case because both the victim and the perpetrator are difficult to identify,” Min said.

While stricter regulations against secondary victimization in criminal cases such as sexually explicit deepfakes are important, Min added that it is also important to “educate the public about why sex crimes involving deepfakes are as serious as other forms of sex crimes” to prevent further secondary victimization.

“In addition to preventing secondary victimization, it is also important to provide victims of deepfake pornography with the necessary psychological support,” Min added.