Home > National > Politics

Police probe deepfake video of Yoon, first lady played at pro-impeachment protest

Published: 17 Feb. 2025, 17:26 Updated: 17 Feb. 2025, 17:35

LIM JEONG-WON
[email protected]

The National Police Agency’s National Office of Investigation (NOI) headquarters in Seodaemun District, western Seoul, on Jan. 11. [KIM HYUN-DONG]

Police launched an investigation on Monday into the playing of a deepfake video with the faces of President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee at a pro-impeachment rally in Gwangju on Sunday.

An official from the National Police Agency’s National Office of Investigation (NOI) said at a press conference on Monday that the cyber investigation unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency had begun a pre-indictment investigation and that “if a formal complaint is filed, a full-scale investigation will be conducted.”

The official said police are considering whether the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency or the Gwangju Police Agency should investigate the case.

The three-minute, 30-second video shown during the rally featured scantily dressed figures reminiscent of Yoon and his wife Kim.

The official also said 125 people have been investigated in connection to the Jan. 19 riot at the Seoul Western District Court. Of these, 74 have been arrested, and 51 are under investigation without detention.

Rioters opened the back door of the Seoul Western District Court and climbed over its walls in the early hours of Jan. 19, hours after it approved an arrest warrant against President Yoon on charges of masterminding an insurrection by declaring martial law in December.

The warrant extended Yoon’s detention by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, which took him into custody on Jan. 15.

Of the arrested suspects, 70 have been referred to the prosecution, as will be the remaining four.

“We are investigating the forces we believe pulled the strings by analyzing online conservative community posts and YouTube videos,” said the official.

The NOI was also "conducting a basic investigation" into allegations that Jeon Kwang-hoon, a right-wing pastor suspected of being behind the riot at the Seoul Western District Court, incited an insurrection while reviewing if other charges could apply.

Regarding evidence suggesting users of the online community DC Inside planned to disrupt the Constitutional Court, the official said the NOI had "intensively investigated" 60 posts as of last Thursday.

Additionally, the NOI official dismissed accusations that Acting Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court Moon Hyung-bae had joined an internet message board for high school classmates where pornography was shared, with Moon himself allegedly leaving comments on lewd material, noting that the alleged act took place in 2009 beyond the statute of limitations.

BY LEE JI-YOUNG, LIM JEONG-WON [[email protected]]