Open Decision Ledger · Criminal law
Face-composited images of a child and the two limbs of the exploitation-material definition
Supreme Court, Aug. 14, 2025, 2024Do17801 (judgment)
Case name: 아동·청소년의성보호에관한법률위반(성착취물제작·배포등)·성폭력범죄의처벌등에관한특례법위반(허위영상물편집·반포등)·아동·청소년의성보호에관한법률위반(성착취물소지)·성폭력범죄의처벌등에관한특례법위반(통신매체이용음란)[아동·청소년의 얼굴 사진을 이용한 불법 성적 합성물을 제작한 사건]
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Where a composite photograph or so-called deepfake is made from the face of an actual child or adolescent, is it 'child or adolescent sexual exploitation material in which a child or adolescent appears' under Article 2(v) of the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents, and when may it instead be material 'in which an expression clearly recognisable as a child or adolescent appears'?
Holding
It does not. Material in which a child or adolescent appears means material in which the actual person, and not an image of a child, appears and expresses sexual intercourse, acts analogous to it or other sexual acts, so a composite photograph or deepfake built from a real child's face is an image the maker created and the child does not appear in it. Where such a composite expresses sexual acts, it may be material in which an expression clearly recognisable as a child or adolescent appears, and whether it is must be judged by weighing the legislative purpose of strictly regulating the sexualisation of children and the amendment history together with the depicted person's appearance and physical development, actual age or identity, the source and circumstances of production, and the background and setting.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
‘아동·청소년이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’이란 아동·청소년의 이미지가 아니라 실제 인물인 아동·청소년이 등장하여 성교 행위, 유사 성교 행위 등 성적 행위를 하는 내용을 표현하는 것으로서 영상 등의 형태로 된 것을 의미한다.
Unofficial English translation
'Sexual exploitation material involving children and adolescents in which a child or adolescent appears' means one in the form of a video or the like that depicts the content of a real child or adolescent, and not an image of a child or adolescent, appearing and engaging in sexual acts such as sexual intercourse or acts analogous to sexual intercourse.
Disposition
Dismissed Stated in the decision
상고를 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
The appeal is dismissed.
Form of the test
Circumstances weighed Stated in the decision
합성 사진 등의 배경과 상황 설정 등 합성 사진 등에서 주어진 여러 정보 등을 전체적·종합적으로 고려하여 판단하여야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
must be determined by comprehensively and holistically considering various information given in the synthetic images and the like, such as the background and setting of the synthetic images and the like.
Factors
- 아동·청소년을 성적 대상화하는 행위를 엄격하게 규율하려는 청소년성보호법 제2조 제5호의 입법 취지와 개정 경과를 염두에 두고
- 합성 사진 등이 나타내고 있는 인물의 외모나 신체발육 상태
- 인물의 실제 나이나 신원
- 합성 사진 등의 출처나 제작 경위
- 합성 사진 등의 배경과 상황 설정 등 합성 사진 등에서 주어진 여러 정보 등을 전체적·종합적으로 고려하여 판단하여야 한다
Unofficial English translation
• keeping in mind the legislative intent of Article 2, subparagraph 5 of the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents from Sexual Abuse, which seeks to strictly regulate acts that sexually objectify children and adolescents, and the history of its amendment,
• the appearance or physical development of the person depicted in the synthetic images and the like
• the actual age or identity of the person
• the source or circumstances of creation of the synthetic images and the like
• must be determined by comprehensively and holistically considering various information given in the synthetic images and the like, such as the background and setting of the synthetic images and the like.
Relation to precedent
States a new standard Read from the decision
그 조항에서 ‘아동·청소년이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’과 ‘아동·청소년으로 명백하게 인식될 수 있는 사람이나 표현물이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’을 구분하고 있는 점 등에 비추어 보면
Unofficial English translation
In light of the fact that the provision distinguishes between 'sexual exploitation material involving children and adolescents in which a child or adolescent appears' and 'sexual exploitation material involving children and adolescents in which a person or an expression capable of being clearly recognized as a child or adolescent appears', among other things,
Decisions referred to
해당 본문 참조
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
When the actual age or identity of the person shown in a composite cannot be established, how strongly must appearance and physical development point to a child before the composite is clearly recognisable as a child or adolescent?
A later decision applying the weighing test to a composite whose subject's age cannot be verified would show how the second limb works in practice. An amendment to the definition in Article 2(v) of the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents, or a change in the rule on the alternative offence of editing and distributing false video material, would require this entry to be read again.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
6 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-24
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 6 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 6 (relation to precedent), axis 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 6 (Relation to precedent): Primary “States a new standard” vs Independent “Cannot be determined”
The holding expressly formulates a detailed classification and assessment framework but does not identify its relationship to earlier decisions, allowing it to be read as a new standard or as leaving precedent status unverifiable.
그 조항에서 ‘아동·청소년이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’과 ‘아동·청소년으로 명백하게 인식될 수 있는 사람이나 표현물이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’을 구분하고 있는 점 등에 비추어 보면Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “When the actual age or identity of the person shown in a composite cannot be established, how strongly must appearance and physical development point to a child before the composite is clearly recognisable as a child or adolescent?” vs Independent “How should recognizability be assessed when the depicted person's appearance conflicts with information about their actual age?”
The primary asks what appearance-based threshold applies when age or identity is unknown, while the independent asks how to resolve conflict between appearance and known age information.
‘아동·청소년이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’이란 아동·청소년의 이미지가 아니라 실제 인물인 아동·청소년이 등장하여 성교 행위, 유사 성교 행위 등 성적 행위를 하는 내용을 표현하는 것으로서 영상 등의 형태로 된 것을 의미한다.Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Seoul High Court, in its judgment of 1 November 2024 (2024No1823), held that the photograph made by compositing an unidentified woman's body onto the face of the child victim, and the photograph made by placing a male genital organ at the mouth area of the victim's face and rephotographing it, could not readily be found to be 'child or adolescent sexual exploitation material' under Article 2(v). It therefore found the count under the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents (production and distribution of sexual exploitation material) unproven and acquitted on that count in its reasoning, while finding the alternative count under the Act on the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes (editing and distributing false video material) proved.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court held that part of the court below's stated reasoning was inappropriate, in so far as it treated the rephotographed composite as a case of a child 'appearing'. It found, however, that the conclusion that neither photograph could be found to be sexual exploitation material under Article 2(v) was sound, with no error breaching the rules of logic and experience, exceeding the limits of free evaluation, or misapplying the law on that material, and dismissed the appeal on the unanimous opinion of the participating Justices.
Distinguishing conditions
- Material in which the actual child or adolescent appears and performs sexual intercourse, acts analogous to it or other sexual acts, so that the first limb of Article 2(v) applies on its own terms.
- A composite photograph that does not express sexual acts, so that the second limb of the definition, which requires the expression of sexual acts, is not reached.
- Material whose depicted person is not clearly recognisable as a child or adolescent once appearance, physical development, actual age or identity, source and circumstances of production, background and setting are weighed as a whole.
Record verification notes
Establish first whether the actual child or adolescent appears, or only an image the maker created from that child's face, since the whole distinction turns on it. Then gather the listed information about the composite, its depiction of sexual acts and the person shown, and keep the lower court's reasoning on the rephotographed photograph out of any quotation, because the Supreme Court called part of it inappropriate. The decision does not name the appellant, and the conviction under the Act on the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes stood untouched.
From the official text
Points at issue
아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률 제2조 제5호에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’의 의미 및 실제 인물인 아동·청소년의 얼굴에 불상의 여성의 나체 사진 등을 합성한 합성 사진이나 일명 딥페이크 영상이 이에 해당하는지 여부(소극) / 위 합성 사진 등이 같은 조항에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년으로 명백하게 인식될 수 있는 표현물이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’에 해당할 수 있는 경우 및 이에 해당하는지 판단하는 기준
Unofficial English translation
The meaning of 'sexual exploitation material involving children and adolescents in which a child or adolescent appears' referred to in Article 2, subparagraph 5 of the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents from Sexual Abuse, and whether synthetic images—such as those created by compositing photographs of the nude body of an unidentified woman onto the face of a real child or adolescent—or so-called deepfake videos fall within the same (negative) / The circumstances in which the aforesaid synthetic images and the like may fall under 'sexual exploitation material involving children and adolescents in which an expression capable of being clearly recognized as a child or adolescent appears' referred to in the same Article, and the criteria for determining whether they fall within it
Summary of the holding
아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(이하 ‘청소년성보호법’이라 한다) 제2조 제5호의 입법 배경과 취지, 개정 연혁, 그 조항에서 ‘아동·청소년이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’과 ‘아동·청소년으로 명백하게 인식될 수 있는 사람이나 표현물이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’을 구분하고 있는 점 등에 비추어 보면, 청소년성보호법 제2조 제5호에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’이란 아동·청소년의 이미지가 아니라 실제 인물인 아동·청소년이 등장하여 성교 행위, 유사 성교 행위 등 성적 행위를 하는 내용을 표현하는 것으로서 영상 등의 형태로 된 것을 의미한다. 따라서 실제 인물인 아동·청소년의 얼굴에 불상의 여성의 나체 사진 등을 합성한 합성 사진이나 일명 딥페이크 영상(실제 인물인 아동·청소년의 얼굴·신체 등을 인공지능 기술 등을 이용하여 특정 영상에 일반인의 성적 수치심이나 혐오감 등을 유발할 수 있는 형태로 편집·합성·가공한 것)(이하 ‘합성 사진 등’이라 한다)은 실제 인물인 아동·청소년 그 자체가 아니라 창작자가 만들어낸 아동·청소년의 이미지에 해당하여, 실제 인물인 아동·청소년이 등장한 것으로 볼 수 없으므로, 청소년성보호법 제2조 제5호에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’에 해당하지 않는다. 그러나 합성 사진 등의 내용이 아동·청소년의 성교 행위, 유사 성교 행위 등 성적 행위를 표현하는 경우에는 청소년성보호법 제2조 제5호에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년으로 명백하게 인식될 수 있는 표현물이 등장하는 아동·청소년성착취물’에 해당할 수 있다. 합성 사진 등이 청소년성보호법 제2조 제5호에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년으로 명백하게 인식될 수 있는 표현물’에 해당하는지 여부는, 아동·청소년을 성적 대상화하는 행위를 엄격하게 규율하려는 청소년성보호법 제2조 제5호의 입법 취지와 개정 경과를 염두에 두고, 합성 사진 등이 나타내고 있는 인물의 외모나 신체발육 상태, 인물의 실제 나이나 신원, 합성 사진 등의 출처나 제작 경위, 합성 사진 등의 배경과 상황 설정 등 합성 사진 등에서 주어진 여러 정보 등을 전체적·종합적으로 고려하여 판단하여야 한다.
Order
상고를 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
The appeal is dismissed.
Provisions referred to
아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률 제2조 제4호, 제5호, 제11조 제1항
Read 2026-10-24 · Cross-read 2026-10-24. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
Every entry is published only after all quotes have been matched character by character against the official text, and audited by an independent second reading from a different model family across all eight axes. Both agreed axes and text-grounded interpretive divergences are recorded openly. The ledger is a research record, not an assessment of the court or advice on any matter.
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