Temperature Differences in Response to 'Deepfake'... Ministry of Education "Prompt" Ministry of Gender Equality and Family "After Securing Budget"

Detailed Plans of Related Ministries: Ministry of Education and Ministry of Gender Equality and Family
Ministry of Education Launches 'Student Awareness Survey'
Ministry of Gender Equality and Family "Will Proceed Next Year After Securing Budget"

As the recent series of 'deepfake sex crime' incidents came to light, the government announced a 'Deepfake Sex Crime Response Plan' on the 6th through a joint effort of related ministries. While the Ministry of Education, a relevant agency, revealed plans to implement related measures starting this year, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family postponed the execution timeline to next year, after securing the budget.

According to the Ministry of Education on the 7th, the authorities plan to swiftly implement jurisdictional initiatives such as preventive education within this year, as announced the day before. This reflects the significant role of the Ministry of Education in prevention, given that most deepfake sex crime perpetrators are teenagers. According to the police, 506 suspects of deepfake sex crimes were apprehended from January to October this year, of which 81.2% were teenagers. There were also 78 'criminally irresponsible minors' under the age of 14.

First, the Ministry of Education recently began a 'Deepfake Student Awareness Survey' targeting about 2,000 elementary, middle, and high school students, with results to be announced next month. Although there are questions about victimization, the purpose is to gauge teenagers' awareness level of deepfakes, distinct from investigating victimization status. A Ministry of Education official said in a phone interview that "there has been no baseline data to understand awareness related to deepfakes until now," adding, "Based on the results, we expect to establish directions on how to improve awareness going forward."

Additionally, learning materials and PPTs for preventing deepfake sex crimes, a kind of 'new type' crime, will be produced and distributed on-site within this month. Since deepfake composite-based crimes became a nationwide issue in August, demand for related education has surged, but the materials available were "only outdated ones," reflecting the field's requests. Teachers will participate in creating the materials, which will be reviewed by the Ministry of Education. Considering students' developmental stages, materials will be differentiated for elementary and middle/high school students. Related teacher training will also be conducted this month. A Ministry of Education official stated, "We plan to combine on-site education with streaming-based remote education."

Kim Jong-moon, Chair of the Government-wide Task Force on Deepfake Response (First Deputy Minister of the Office for Government Policy Coordination), is announcing measures to strengthen joint deepfake sex crime response by related ministries at the Government Seoul Office in Jongno, Seoul, on the 6th. Photo by Jo Yong-jun

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF), responsible for sex crime prevention and victim support, also presented a response plan. Jo Yong-su, Deputy Director of the Rights Promotion Bureau, explained the response rationale by stating that "most victims of deepfake sex crimes are women," and that "it can be viewed as gender-based violence rooted in sexual violence."

Following the amendment of the Sexual Violence Prevention Act in September, MOGEF decided to expand the Digital Sex Crime Victim Support Centers (DiSeong Centers), which provide digital sexual exploitation material deletion support and victim counseling, to each region. Alongside this, they announced plans to increase the deletion support and counseling staff at the DiSeong Centers from the current 18 to 33 and to push for a budget increase. They will also promote AI-based deletion automation in collaboration with the Ministry of Science and ICT. Through AI, they plan to automate processes such as real-time detection of deepfake footage, sending deletion requests to service providers, and monitoring deletion status. MOGEF will also unify the reporting channels related to digital sex crimes.

However, MOGEF has tentatively postponed the execution of major initiatives until after the budget for next year is finalized. They did not specify the execution timeline or the scale of the required budget, which are fundamental details of the plan. Although MOGEF announced plans to increase DiSeong Center personnel and budget in the announcement the day before, when asked about the budget size, an official responded, "It is difficult to disclose as it may be cut during negotiations."

It is expected to be challenging to operate a '24/7, 365 days' deletion support system with only 33 DiSeong Center staff. Moreover, if the Ministry of Economy and Finance’s review and the National Assembly’s budget deliberation process do not allocate the targeted budget, it will be difficult to meet the personnel increase plan. Notably, the government budget for next year to operate personnel responding to digital sex crime victims was set at 3.269 billion KRW, a 6.3% (260 million KRW) decrease compared to this year’s 3.475 billion KRW.

Regarding plans to revamp the dedicated reporting website and the AI-based automated deletion support system, MOGEF stated, "We will proceed next year after securing the budget."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.