Officer possessed about 5,600 illegal videos, produced around 400

Had received deferred prosecution for similar offense before joining force

A computer-generated image depicting the spread of illegal content through a Telegram chatroom. [Yonhap]
A computer-generated image depicting the spread of illegal content through a Telegram chatroom. [Yonhap]

A serving police officer has been taken into custody on charges of using AI to produce sexual exploitation videos and distributing them through Telegram chatrooms.

The officer had previously received a deferred prosecution for a similar offense before joining the force — and continued committing crimes even after being hired.

The officer, identified only as A, a junior patrolman attached to Seoul's Dongdaemun Police Station, was detained last month on charges including possession of sexual exploitation material and deepfake videos, as well as production and distribution of deepfake content, according to Yonhap.

Earlier, the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency had infiltrated a Telegram chatroom where deepfake videos were being circulated and, after months of tracking, identified A as the person distributing the illegal material. When investigators confirmed his identity, they found he was an active-duty officer working in the traffic division of Dongdaemun Police Station in Seoul.

The suspect had been distributing illegal videos online while wearing a police uniform in real life.

In August, police raided A's mobile phone and other devices. The warrant listed the distribution of three deepfake videos as the basis for the search.

But the scale of the crimes uncovered during analysis of the seized items far exceeded initial expectations. Investigators found not only deepfake videos on his phone but also child and youth sexual exploitation material and illegally filmed footage.

In total, A was found to have possessed about 5,600 videos — roughly 2,600 deepfakes, about 1,600 videos of child and youth sexual exploitation, and approximately 1,300 illegally filmed clips.

A did not stop at collecting the material — he also produced and distributed it himself.

From March 2022 through July this year, he used an AI app to create around 400 deepfake videos depicting acquaintances in the nude, and also produced illegally filmed footage of women's bodies taken without their knowledge.

Between August last year and April this year, he distributed dozens of deepfake videos through Telegram chatrooms.

A joined the police force in April 2024. The crimes had begun roughly two years before he was hired and continued for more than two years after he put on the uniform.

A had already been investigated for a similar offense before joining the force and received a deferred prosecution on that occasion. Once the investigation intensified, he confessed to the crimes.


ko@heraldcorp.com