Gyeongnam governor questioned for 13 hours in election deepfake probe

Gyeongnam Governor Park Wan-su (박완수) was questioned as a suspect for about 13 hours on October 7 in an investigation into alleged election-law violations, police said on October 8. He attended questioning from 08:00 until 21:00. The case concerns allegations involving deepfake videos and public officials' involvement in his campaign for the June 3 local election. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

Gyeongnam police's cyber investigation unit said Park was being investigated on suspicion of violating the Public Official Election Act and other alleged offenses. Police declined to explain the detailed allegations, saying the investigation was continuing. CBS NoCut News reported that police would disclose no details beyond confirming that he had been questioned as a suspect. [ 1 , 3 , 4 , 5 ]

The provincial election commission referred nine campaign associates and current or former provincial officials to prosecutors for investigation in May. The camp of Democratic Party gubernatorial candidate Kim Kyung-soo (김경수) separately complained to police about five people over alleged production and distribution of deepfake videos and public officials' election involvement. Police combined the matters in their investigation. [ 1 , 3 , 5 ]

In August, a court rejected arrest-warrant requests for four people linked to the case. They were suspected of directing production of videos disparaging Kim and providing internal provincial documents and money or other benefits. Two officials were also suspected of establishing an unauthorized election office for video production. Seoul Economic Daily reported that the court considered the suspects' fixed residences, social ties and evidence already secured, and said the need for detention had not been established at that stage while their defense rights also required protection. [ 1 , 3 , 5 ]