SEOUL – A serving Seoul police officer has been detained on suspicion of creating and distributing hundreds of AI-generated sexually explicit deepfakes and possessing about 5,600 illegal sexual images and videos, including child sexual exploitation material, local media reported on Oct 4.

The officer, assigned to the traffic division of Dongdaemun Police Station in eastern Seoul, was detained in September on allegations including possession of sexual exploitation material and fabricated sexual content, as well as producing and distributing sexually explicit deepfakes.

The case came to light through an undercover investigation by the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency into a Telegram chat room where sexually explicit fabricated images were being circulated.

Investigators obtained court approval in December 2025 to enter the chat room under a covert identity and track suspected distributors. After several months, they identified one of them as an active-duty police officer in Seoul.

Police searched the officer’s mobile phone and other devices in August. A subsequent forensic examination found about 5,600 illegal files, including roughly 2,600 fabricated sexual images and videos, 1,600 items classified as child or adolescent sexual exploitation material and 1,300 illegally filmed videos.

The officer is also suspected of producing more than 400 AI-generated images or videos depicting acquaintances as nude between March 2022 and July 2026.

Investigators believe the officer also secretly filmed women’s bodies and distributed dozens of fabricated sexual images through Telegram between August 2025 and April 2026.

The officer joined the police force in April 2024, meaning the alleged offences began about two years before recruitment and continued after entering the force.