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Korean Law Demystified!

The Fear of Being Exposed Is Harm Enough: Courts Award Damages for Deepfake Creation Even Without Distribution

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Two Korean civil courts have now ruled that a victim of deepfake sexual imagery is entitled to compensation for psychological suffering caused by the existence of the material — even where there is no evidence the content was ever shared or distributed. Here are the key points.

Issue

Does the creation of deepfake sexual imagery targeting an identifiable victim constitute a compensable civil wrong — and can damages be awarded for psychological harm caused by the ongoing risk of distribution, even if distribution has not occurred?

Facts

  • B used a Telegram AI bot in mid-2024 to create eight deepfake videos combining victim A’s face with another woman’s body, saving them to an external hard drive with intent to distribute.
  • B was separately convicted in criminal proceedings under the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes for editing and producing false sexual imagery, receiving a confirmed five-year prison sentence.
  • A filed a civil damages claim against B. A separate victim, C, also filed a civil damages claim against the same defendant B, which was heard by a different court.

Court Decisions

  • Seoul Eastern District Court ordered B to pay A ₩12 million in solatium on July 8, 2026.
  • Seoul Central District Court had previously ordered B to pay C ₩8 million in solatium on May 28, 2026.
  • Both courts applied the same legal reasoning.

The courts accepted the findings of the confirmed criminal judgment without requiring fresh proof, finding that B’s conduct caused A significant psychological harm. While no evidence existed that the deepfake material had ever been displayed or distributed, the courts held that A’s experience of ongoing anxiety about the possibility of distribution at any time constituted real and compensable psychological suffering — not a speculative or future harm.

The courts factored in the circumstances and number of times the deepfakes were created, the severity of the psychological impact, and the serious nature of the underlying unlawful conduct in setting the solatium amounts.

Key Takeaways

  • Creation of deepfake sexual imagery is a stand-alone civil wrong that gives rise to damages liability, separate from and additional to any criminal conviction.
  • Distribution of the material is not a prerequisite for civil liability. The victim’s ongoing anxiety about potential exposure — grounded in the knowledge that the material exists and could be shared at any time — constitutes compensable psychological harm in itself.
  • Korean courts are treating the existence of deepfake imagery as a source of continuous harm to the victim, not merely a harm that materializes only upon distribution.
  • Two courts have now awarded meaningful solatium amounts — ₩12 million and ₩8 million respectively — for psychological harm alone, without any economic loss component. Legal practitioners working in this area note these are significant amounts for non-economic damages at this stage of judicial development in this area.
  • The judicial framework for assessing deepfake damages is still developing, and the amounts recognized are likely to expand as courts accumulate experience with the severity and range of harm these offenses cause.

Why This Matters

These rulings establish an important principle for victims of deepfake sexual crimes in Korea: you do not need to wait for the material to be distributed before seeking civil redress. The creation of the material — and the shadow it casts over the victim’s life — is itself the harm. For practitioners representing victims of online sexual crimes, the decisions open a civil remedy pathway that can run parallel to criminal proceedings and does not depend on proving actual distribution. For potential perpetrators, the rulings make clear that saving deepfake material to a hard drive is not a legally neutral act — it creates immediate civil liability to the person depicted, regardless of what happens to the material afterward.

Article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=224491

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