The Growing Complexity of Digital Sex Crimes

Recent data from the Central Digital Sex Crime Victim Support Center reveals a shift in the landscape of digital sex crimes in South Korea. While the number of new victims is slightly decreasing, there is a significant increase in individuals requiring long-term, continuous support.

This trend indicates that once illegal content is uploaded, it is often redistributed repeatedly, making it difficult for victims to fully recover.

Key Statistics on Victimization

According to the 2025 Digital Sex Crime Victim Support Report, the total number of victims receiving assistance (including counseling and deletion support) reached 10,637 people, a 3.2% increase over the previous year.

  • New Victims: Decreased by 10.3%.
  • Long-term Support Victims: Increased by 26.3%.
  • Demographics: Most victims are women, with those in their 10s and 20s making up 77.6% of the total.
Legal Insight: The increase in long-term support victims highlights the characteristic of digital crimes where content can be easily duplicated and redistributed, necessitating sustained legal and psychological support rather than a short-term fix.

Shift Toward AI and Cyber-Harassment

There is a noticeable shift in the types of crimes being committed. While traditional illegal filming is decreasing, technology-based crimes are on the rise:

  1. AI-based Synthesis and Editing: Increased by 16.8%.
  2. Cyber-Harassment: Increased by 26.6%.
  3. Fear of Distribution: Many victims seek help not because content has been shared, but due to threats and grooming, leading to a high sense of potential risk.

Challenges in Enforcement and Recovery

Illegal content is increasingly being hosted on overseas servers to avoid administrative sanctions under Korean law. This makes the deletion process more complex and time-consuming.

Furthermore, the revised Act on the Prevention of Sexual Violence now allows victims to request the deletion of personal information (name, age, address, etc.) even if it is distributed without accompanying sexual imagery. This has led to a 29.1% increase in requests for personal information deletion.

Warning for Foreigners: If you are a victim of a digital sex crime in Korea, you can seek help from the government-supported support centers to request the deletion of illegal content and receive legal and medical assistance.