Sunfull Foundation urges action as AI deepfakes fuel online abuse

Bipartisan lawmakers, educators and diplomats called for strong action against AI deepfakes, hate speech and cyberbullying at an event last week marking the 19th anniversary of Sunfull Foundation's movement against malicious online comments.

The ceremony, held on Sept. 9 at the Grand Lotte Seoul in central Seoul, was organized by the Sunfull Foundation, the National Assembly Sunfull Committee and the National Sunfull Teachers Association, bringing together lawmakers from both major political parties, diplomats from 13 countries, including Chinese ambassador to Korea Dai Bing, and celebrities such as Black Swan's Gabi and Sriya.

The foundation further urged the government to designate a separate day promoting kind comments.

Sunfull Foundation Chairman Min Byoung-chul stressed that malicious comments are “evolving into new forms by combining with AI deepfake technology."

“The purpose of this event is to declare a new global standard for the digital era through the Sunfull culture of respect and consideration,” Min said. “I urge the state to step forward and designate a Sunfull Day — just one day a year without malicious comments, devoted to kind ones."

Participants also urged the government to designate the national Sunfull Day. Sunfull, or seonpeul, translates to "kind comments" in Korean.

Founded in 2007 following tragedies linked to malicious online comments, the Sunfull movement has grown to include about 849,000 participants who have posted more than 10 million “kind comments.”

During the event, six celebrities — comedians Kim Yong-man and Seo Kyung-suk, Lucky, chef Austin Kang, Blackswan members Gabi and Sriya — shared their experiences with malicious comments and cyberbullying.

The Sunfull movement began in 2007 during the 17th National Assembly, and in the 21st National Assembly, all 299 members signed the “Sunfull politics declaration.”

BY PAIK JI-HWAN [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]