A serving Seoul police officer has been detained on suspicion of creating and distributing hundreds of AI-generated sexually explicit deepfakes and possessing about 5,600 illegal sexual images and videos, including child sexual exploitation material, local media reported Sunday.
The officer, assigned to the traffic division of Dongdaemun Police Station in eastern Seoul, was detained in September on allegations including possession of sexual exploitation material and fabricated sexual content, as well as producing and distributing sexually explicit deepfakes.
The case came to light through an undercover investigation by the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency into a Telegram chat room where sexually explicit fabricated images were being circulated.
Investigators obtained court approval in December 2025 to enter the chat room under a covert identity and track suspected distributors. After several months, they identified one of them as an active-duty police officer in Seoul.
Police searched the officer's mobile phone and other devices in August. A subsequent forensic examination found about 5,600 illegal files, including roughly 2,600 fabricated sexual images and videos, 1,600 items classified as child or adolescent sexual exploitation material and 1,300 illegally filmed videos.
The officer is also suspected of producing more than 400 AI-generated images or videos depicting acquaintances as nude between March 2022 and July this year. Investigators believe the officer also secretly filmed women's bodies and distributed dozens of fabricated sexual images through Telegram between August 2025 and April 2026.
The officer joined the police force in April 2024, meaning the alleged offenses began about two years before recruitment and continued after entering the force.
The officer had previously been investigated in a similar case and received a suspended indictment before joining the police. In South Korea, a suspended indictment allows prosecutors to refrain from bringing formal charges after considering factors such as the circumstances of the offense and the suspect.
The undercover operation reflects expanded investigative powers introduced after the so-called Nth Room and Doctor's Room scandals, a series of high-profile Telegram-based sexual exploitation cases that prompted South Korea to tighten its digital sex-crime laws. Undercover investigations were first authorized in 2021 for crimes involving minors and were expanded in June 2025 to cover digital sexual offenses involving adult victims.
Dongdaemun Police Station said the officer was placed on standby duty immediately after it was notified that the Busan police had opened an investigation and has since been relieved of duties.
The station said it could not disclose further details of the allegations or the investigation.
mjh@heraldcorp.com