Acting President and Deputy Prime Minister Choi Sang-mok, who also serves as Minister of Strategy and Finance, said on the 6th, "We will block the activation of disposable phones, a major tool used in voice phishing crimes, to respond to this issue."
On this day, Acting President Choi held a 'meeting to inspect civilian crimes' at the Korean National Police Agency in Seodaemun District, Seoul, stating, "The methods of voice phishing crimes are becoming more sophisticated, and the amount of damage last year increased by 90% compared to 2023, indicating that the situation has worsened."
He said, "We will implement a facial recognition system and strengthen the criteria for multi-line subscriptions so that mass activations under corporate names cannot occur, and we will ban the domestic distribution of number spoofers to prevent overseas phone numbers from being disguised as domestic numbers."
He continued, "The mutual financial sector will significantly enhance its crime response infrastructure to a level similar to that of banks by securing dedicated personnel, and we will also inspect the operational status of screening systems at frontline bank branches," adding, "We will strengthen international cooperation in investigations with China, Southeast Asia, and others to track down criminals relentlessly and impose severe penalties."
Acting President Choi also expressed his commitment to addressing drug-related crimes. He noted, "Last year's drug offenders decreased by 16% compared to the record high in 2023 due to government investigations and enforcement efforts, but the proportion of offenders in their 20s and 30s exceeds 60%, and the risk of synthetic drugs continues to persist."
He further stated, "Starting next month, we will carry out a special joint crackdown across the government in areas where drug-related crimes frequently occur, such as entertainment venues, airports, and ports," and added, "We will establish an online investigation team within the Korean National Police Agency this month to thoroughly investigate non-face-to-face drug distribution networks on platforms like Telegram and illegal virtual asset exchanges."
He also stated, "To prevent new drugs from circulating domestically, we will quickly designate them as controlled substances upon discovery and proactively manage them to prevent illegal synthetic drugs from being manufactured in the country."
On this day, the government also announced measures to strengthen responses to illegal private lending and deepfake sexual crimes.
Acting President Choi said, "We will provide a record-high annual supply of 12 trillion won for policy-seeking financial services and significantly expand loans for low- to medium-credit borrowers through private financial institutions such as mid-interest loans compared to previous years," adding, "In situations where damage occurs, we will expand the dedicated personnel for debtor representatives so that victims can receive assistance and simplify the support process."
He continued, "Debtor representatives will not only assist in collection responses but also represent litigation to recover principal and interest. Furthermore, we will establish dedicated investigation teams for illegal financial services at police agencies and stations across the country to crack down on criminal organizations thoroughly and impose severe penalties under the revised lending business law to eradicate criminal groups."
He added, "Since the government announced measures to strengthen responses to deepfake sexual crimes in November last year, we have dramatically increased investigations and penalties and established a cooperative system with Telegram, leading to a decrease in reported crimes from 395 cases in September last year to 108 cases in December."
He concluded, "Based on these achievements, the government will diligently pursue legislative measures, including the introduction of advanced investigative techniques and strengthening platform management."