The Broadcasting Media and Communications Commission said on Monday it held a kickoff meeting for a cross-government consultative body on responding to digital sex crimes, together with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the National Police Agency and the Broadcasting Media and Communications Review Commission.

The cross-government body is a cooperation framework spanning the entire process of preventing digital sex crimes, investigations, blocking and victim support. The meeting, held at the Seoul Government Complex, was attended by Kim Jong-cheol (김종철), chairman of the Broadcasting Media and Communications Commission, Gender Equality Minister Won Min-kyung (원민경), Yoo Jae-sung (유재성), acting commissioner general of the National Police Agency, and Ko Kwang-heon (고광헌), chairman of the Broadcasting Media and Communications Review Commission, to discuss key issues and response strategies.

The participating agencies shared the body’s operating plans and progress on 추진ing an integrated victim support team for digital sex crimes. They also discussed building a rapid blocking system, responding to overseas illegal harmful sites, strengthening victim protection and tasks for institutional improvements.

The four agencies plan to support swift decision-making on major policies and institutional improvements and boost accountability and execution in inter-agency cooperation. The four agencies previously signed a memorandum of understanding in November 2019 for a joint response to digital sex crimes and have jointly responded through quarterly working-level consultative meetings.

But the need to strengthen the response system has grown as refusals to comply with deletion requests, repeated posting and continued spread have persisted, centering on illegal harmful sites, and as methods have become more sophisticated, including deepfake sex crimes that abuse artificial intelligence technology. The government launched a cross-government joint integrated victim support team for digital sex crimes in May and expanded and reorganised the existing quarterly working-level meetings into a monthly body. It is also strengthening the response system further by creating this new chiefs-level cross-government consultative body.

Kim said digital sex crimes were serious crimes that severely undermine human dignity and value protected by the constitution. He said the commission would work with related agencies under a zero-tolerance principle to eradicate digital sex crimes and ensure a safe digital environment.

Won said integrated responses were most important for a fundamental solution to digital sex crimes. She said the government would focus cross-government capabilities through a new cooperation model in which relevant agencies respond under shared responsibility.

Yoo said the cross-government body was the starting point for a fundamental response to break the vicious cycle of copying and spreading digital sexual exploitation material. He said police would strictly investigate by tracking crimes at every stage, from production to distribution, purchase, possession and viewing.

Ko said victims’ suffering from digital sex crimes was worsening by the day. He said the review commission would work closely with the gender equality ministry, the communications commission and the police agency to do its utmost to eradicate the distribution of illegal filmed material.