South Korea mulls uploading headshots of sex offenders on 3D metaverse

South Korea is mulling the uploading of headshots of sex offenders rendered on the three-dimensional metaverse, to help the public identify offenders, said Minister of Gender Equality and Family Kim Hyun-sook on Tuesday in a local radio interview.

See related article: S.Korea’s science ministry announces ethical principles for the metaverse

Fast facts

• Kim mentioned the idea while discussing the disclosure of serial child rapist Kim Geun-sik’s personal information. Kim had sexually assaulted eleven minors in South Korea from 2000 to 2006, and was recently re-arrested a day before his release from prison as another allegation emerged.

• South Korea discloses personal information of convicted sex offenders when ordered to do so by a court, including a photo, name, address and age.

• “It may be difficult for people to recognize just by looking at pictures, so we are going to consider several solutions such as shortening the image updating cycle from one year to six months or make [the picture] three-dimensional using the metaverse,” the minister said.

• South Korea’s science ministry earlier this year announced an investment of about US$185 million, along with many metaverse projects across regional governments to benefit citizens.

• The country has recently seen the emergence of sexual predators on nascent virtual platforms who target minors behind their avatars.

See related article: S.Korean man sentenced to four years for sexual abuse in metaverse

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