Jeju: a middle-school student who secretly filmed teachers at his school and turned some of the footage into sexual deepfake composites was referred to prosecutors without detention on 17 September 2026; police say the victims are teachers (more than one, number withheld) and no students at the school, the teachers' union questions whether the full scope of harm was confirmed, and the union says the victim teachers have been in treatment for two months while teaching daily, were questioned without a lawyer and wrote the criminal complaint themselves

Seoul Shinmun (23 September 2026, Jeju correspondent) reported that a student at a Jeju middle school who secretly filmed teachers and made some of the footage into deepfake sexual composites had been investigated by police and sent to prosecutors: Jeju Dongbu Police Station said it had referred student A without detention on the 17th for violating the Sexual Violence Punishment Act (filming using cameras etc.). Police obtained the student's phone by voluntary submission from his guardians and carried out digital forensics, which confirmed footage related to some teachers and some sexual composites; A admitted the conduct. A police official told the paper that the phone did not need to be seized by force, that voluntary submission also counts as seizure, and that forensics secured the evidence on which the referral was based. The Jeju teachers' union questioned whether the full scope of harm had been confirmed, in particular because the victim teachers had themselves checked footage involving several students yet the case was being closed without a compulsory search; police replied that the forensics of the submitted phone secured the necessary evidence. Police did not disclose the number of victim teachers because they still teach at the school and disclosure could lead to secondary harm; an official said there are more victim teachers than the one first reported but the number is hard to give, and that some suggestive composites were found and material causing shame was included in the charges. On the earlier suggestion of student victims, police said that on checking there were no victims among the school's students and that they had communicated with the victim teachers through an education-office supervisor to prevent secondary harm. The union said the victim teachers, two months after the case came to light, were receiving hospital treatment and counselling while going to school daily; on the 14th they gave police victim statements without a lawyer and on the 17th attended the regional teachers' rights protection committee without help from the education office or the school safety mutual-aid association, and had written and filed the criminal complaint themselves; special leave is hard to use because substitute teachers cannot be found, so only three or four of 16 days had been taken, and on the day of police questioning they taught a compressed morning timetable first; the union objects that the mutual-aid association calculated legal fees at 3.3 million won for all victim teachers combined, payable after the case closes. A union official said teachers who suffered serious sexual offences were being questioned without lawyers and writing complaints themselves. Police said they had conveyed to the education office that the teachers' psychological suffering could be considerable and that support such as treatment costs, rest and sick leave was needed. The victim teachers' requests to meet the superintendent on the 1st and 3rd were not accepted; a third written request was sent to the superintendent's office on the 21st. The union is collecting signatures nationwide until 2 October for severe punishment and support, to be submitted to the prosecution and the Jeju education office. News1 (23 September) reported the police announcement of the referral on the same charge, adding that the student had been booked for filming a teacher's body with his phone during a school field trip around mid-July, that the phone examination showed the offending continued for several months with multiple victims, and that police found no indication the composites were distributed.

Teachers were secretly filmed by a student and some footage was turned into sexual deepfake composites; two months on, per the union, the victim teachers are in hospital treatment and counselling while continuing to teach at the same school and handled the police statement, the protection committee and the criminal complaint without legal or institutional support. The filming and composites are admitted per police; the teachers' situation is the union's account.

Referred to prosecutors without detention on 17 September 2026 (Jeju Dongbu Police Station) for violation of the Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes (filming using a camera or similar device); the prosecution will decide on indictment and juvenile-case handling. Regional teachers' rights protection committee convened 17 September. The union's petition for severe punishment and victim support runs to 2 October 2026 and will be submitted to the prosecution and the Jeju education office. Whether a separate charge covers the composites is not stated; police say material causing shame was included in the charged conduct, and told News1 they found no indication the composites were distributed.