Assembly passes bills to toughen punishment for deepfake sex crimes

The National Assembly on Thursday passed a total of 70 bipartisan bills, including legislation that imposes stricter punishments on people who possess and view deepfake pornography knowingly.

The revision to the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, Etc. of Sexual Crimes, seeks to penalize those who possess, purchase, store or view deepfake porn content with up to three years in jail or a fine of up to 30 million won ($22,500).

After debate, lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party and the Democratic Party of Korea agreed to add a clause in Article 14 of the revised legislation to protect those who have "unknowingly" viewed or possessed the illegal content from facing punishment.

The Assembly also passed amendments to the Juvenile Protection Act and the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act to bolster the protection of digital sex crime victims.

The amendments made to the Juvenile Protection Act will allow individuals who use sexually exploitative material to blackmail or coerce minors to be punished by law.

Current laws punish such crimes with imprisonment of one or more years in the case of blackmail and three or more years in the case of coercion. The revision will raise the sentences to three or more years and five or more years, respectively, when such crimes target minors.

The revision to the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act specifies that it is the government’s responsibility to delete illegally filmed materials and to help victims proceed with their daily lives. To aid in victims’ recovery, the revision establishes a basis for both central and local governments to operate help centers for digital sex crime victims.

An amendment to the Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, which will increase the length of parental leave from the current two years to a total of three years was passed as well.

A set of contentious bills passed by the opposition-led Assembly and recently vetoed by President Yoon Suk Yeol were also put to a revote, but scrapped. The bills include four broadcasting bills, the pro-labor "Yellow Envelope Bill" and legislation that stipulates universal cash payments of between 250,000 won and 350,000 won to every South Korean citizen for economic relief.

To pass in a revote, a bill requires a majority of the 300-member parliament to be present and must secure two-thirds approval.

In a Thursday party meeting held ahead of the plenary session, the ruling People Power Party revealed plans to make full efforts to prevent the vetoed bills from passing a second time.

"The four broadcasting bills, the 18 trillion won cash handout bill and the bill that pushes for illegal strikes will be put to vote again later today at the plenary meeting," People Power Party Floor Leader Rep. Choo Kyung-ho said during the meeting.

"They are legislation that were unilaterally passed by (the opposition-led Assembly) without proper negotiations and agreements reached between the ruling and the main opposition parties -- they must be rejected and scrapped," he added.