Police officer arrested for fabricating, distributing sexually exploitative images

A police officer has been arrested on charges of possessing, fabricating and distributing sexually exploitative images, including those of people he knows, officials said on Sunday.

The officer of the Seoul Dongdaemun Police Station, whose identity was withheld, was formally arrested last month following months of investigation to track down a distributor of such images in a Telegram chat room.

In August, police seized his mobile phone, and a forensic analysis turned up about 2,600 deepfake images, 1,600 images sexually exploiting children and 1,300 illegally taken images.

Using AI, the officer even fabricated about 400 nude images of people that he knows between March 2022 and July this year and distributed dozens of them in the Telegram chat room.

The officer had previously been investigated for a similar offense and received a suspended indictment before joining the police.

“As soon as we were told of the case, we put him on standby, and he’s now been relieved of duty,” an official of the Dongdaemun Police Station said. “We can’t confirm suspicions and other circumstances in detail.”

Yonhap