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SEOUL, May 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Wednesday launched a pan-government organization to improve the country's response system against digital sex crimes, the government media watchdog said.
The move comes as South Korea has been grappling with a digital sex crime crisis, which has evolved from secret filming in public places to technology-enabled exploitation, such as Deepfakes using artificial intelligence.
According to the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KCMM), the newly created organization aims to speed up the process of blocking the spread of sexually exploitative content online by working with relevant agencies, including overseas entities.
Previously, authorities had difficulty swiftly responding to digital sex crimes due to administrative procedures they had to go through to block access to websites containing such content, the watchdog said.
It will also monitor illegal sexually exploitative content while devising legislation related to tackling such crimes, it added.
The group will be comprised of eight officials, each from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the National Police Agency and the KMCC.
A signboard hanging ceremony was held at the administrative office in Seoul earlier in the day, attended by Gender Minister Won Min-kyong and KMCC Chairman Kim Jong-cheol.
South Korea reported 17,629 cases of digital sex crimes last year, up 4.7 percent from a year earlier, according to a report from the gender ministry.
The government had previously deleted over 1.5 million sexually exploitative content and supported over 53,000 victims of sex crimes so far, through five rounds of government measures.
A rendered image depicting digital sex crimes and government efforts to respond against them is shown in this file photo provided by Yonhap News TV. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
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