Teenager who made sexually exploitative deepfake images of teachers gets longer sentence
Published: 19 Dec. 2025, 17:32
![A poster warning against crimes involving deepfake sexual exploitation material is displayed at the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency on Aug. 30, 2024. [NEWS1]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/19/64fe9bfa-2435-4f01-bea6-37ec7d8ca7aa.jpg)
A poster warning against crimes involving deepfake sexual exploitation material is displayed at the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency on Aug. 30, 2024. [NEWS1]
An appeals court on Friday handed a teenager a longer prison sentence than he had originally received for creating and distributing sexually exploitative deepfake images of teachers on social media. In handing down the three-year sentence, the court ruled that the harm amounted to “character assassination” and outweighed mitigating factors.
The Incheon District Court's criminal appeals division imposed the longer fixed-term sentence after the defendant turned 19 during the appeals process, which placed him outside the more lenient sentencing framework under the Juvenile Act.
The court found that the defendant violated the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes by creating and circulating digitally manipulated images that made it appear as if teachers were nude and posting them with sexually explicit captions on social media.
The court ordered the teenager to complete 40 hours of a sexual violence treatment program and barred him for five years after his release from getting a job at institutions involving children and people with disabilities.
“Posting fabricated images that make teachers appear nude with provocative wording on social media amounts conduct so malicious it can be described as character assassination,” the court ruled.
“The psychological shock suffered by the teachers is substantial, and given the highly transmissible nature of social media, recovery from the damage is extremely difficult.”
The court acknowledged factors cited by the defense, including the teenager's expulsion after gaining admission to university and his family circumstances, but said those considerations did not justify a reduced sentence.
“That the defendant was expelled after being admitted to university and sought to satisfy his desire for recognition in a distorted way while being raised by a single mother are factors in his favor,” the court said. “But from the victims’ perspective, these amount to nothing more than a narrative centered on the perpetrator.”
![The Incheon District Court is pictured in this undated file photo. [JOONGANG ILBO]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2025/12/19/24b6264f-ef85-4fc3-a934-03f3fb00df31.jpg)
The Incheon District Court is pictured in this undated file photo. [JOONGANG ILBO]
The defendant’s newly appointed lawyer asked the court on Friday to reopen arguments to pursue a settlement with the victims.
Judge Choi Sung-bae rejected the request, questioning the timing of the change in legal representation.
“I do not know what the intention was behind changing counsel, but it is enough to invite suspicion that there was another motive ahead of the judges’ personnel reshuffle,” Choi said. “I understand the mother’s desire to seek a reduced sentence by any means possible, but the victims must be considered.”
Choi added that another defendant of the same age appeared in a related case and had apologized sincerely without retaining private counsel.
“The court will not accept the request to reopen arguments,” Choi said.
The defendant’s mother then addressed the court directly.
“I am not well-off, but I hired a lawyer,” she said. “I wanted to convey my apology to the victims, and the only thing I could do was hire counsel. I ask you to clear up any misunderstanding. I am sorry.”
The lower court had sentenced the defendant to an indeterminate prison term with a maximum of 18 months and a minimum of 12 months, applying the Juvenile Act because he was under 19 at the time. After turning 19 during the appeals process, the law no longer allowed for an indeterminate sentence.
Prosecutors said the teenager used deepfake technology in July last year to superimpose the faces of two female high school teachers, as well as a private academy senior and an instructor, onto nude images and distributed them on social media. He also faced charges for filming body parts of a victim with a mobile phone at school.
During the investigation, the teenager told authorities he made them “because the teacher was pretty.”
Education authorities expelled the teenager after a teachers’ rights protection committee determined that he had committed a serious infringement on educational activities.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY HYEON YE-SEUL [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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