South Korean Sexual Deepfake Case, Former Partner Often the Perpetrator

JAKARTA - The former couple is increasingly being referred to as perpetrators in the case of illegal recording and sexual violence in South Korea. The number has risen sharply in the last three years.

According to a Yonhap report quoted, Tuesday, June 23, a South Korean government survey showed that 30.2 percent of illegal recording and deepfake victims named their ex-partner as the perpetrator. In the 2022 survey, the figure was still 9.3 percent.

The sharpest increase was seen in female victims. In the 2025 survey, as many as 42.5 percent of female victims named their ex-partner as the perpetrator. Three years earlier, the figure was 13.8 percent.

Deepfake is the engineering of photos, videos, or voices with digital technology so that someone appears to be doing or saying something that didn't actually happen. In the case of sex, this technology can be used to create fake intimate content that harms the victim.

The survey cited by Yonhap also noted another change. Victims who named an unknown person as the perpetrator fell from 46 percent in 2022 to 21.4 percent in the latest survey.

Even so, the survey showed a general decline in the number of people who have experienced sexual violence throughout their lives.

Victims who reported having experienced sexual violence through communication devices fell from 9.8 percent in 2022 to 7.6 percent in the latest survey.

Respondents who reported having experienced rape or attempted rape also decreased, from 0.2 percent to 0.1 percent in the same period.

The survey on sexual violence security is held every three years by the South Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. This survey is used to photograph the condition of sexual violence and to be the material for policy formulation.

The latest report was compiled based on a survey of 10,151 adults aged 19 to 64 years old from August to October 2025.