[News Today] DEEPFAKE CULPRIT HANDED 10 YRS

[LEAD]
The Seoul Central District Court has handed down a severe first-trial sentence to the primary offender of a digital sex crime involving Seoul National University students. The court stated that this degrading act occurred at a university known for its top intellectuals.

[REPORT]
The so-called 'Nth room' case at Seoul National University involved the school's graduates using the faces of their female alumni to create and distribute pornographic materials.

The Seoul Central District Court has sentenced the main culprit in the case, a man in his 40s surnamed Park to 10 years in prison for violating the Act on special cases concerning the punishment of sexual crimes. An accomplice surnamed Kang is handed a 4 year sentence.

Earlier the prosecution had demanded 10 and 6 years for Park and Kang respectively.

The court said the defendants committed a digital sex crime that humiliated the victims whom they knew at the nation's top university.

It said that they chose victims as if hunters were picking out a game and sexually insulted the victims and their character.

The court stressed the need for a heavy punishment to sound the alarm in society.

An attorney representing the victims welcomed the verdict.

Jo Yoon-hee / Victims' legal representative
The court rejected claims of being in a feeble-minded state. It's a good ruling given the immense damage the victims suffered.

Park and others were indicted for creating some 100 deepfake videos and distributing 1,700 obscene materials online between July 2020 and April this year.

There were 61 victims involved including 12 SNU alumni. Another accomplice also surnamed Park was sentenced to 5 years behind bars in an earlier trial held in August.