President Yoon Suk Yeol urged police Monday to step up efforts to crack down on crimes affecting ordinary people and new types of crime emerging from advanced technologies like deepfakes.

Yoon addressed concerns over new crimes enabled by artificial intelligence, such as deepfakes, as well as fake news, during a ceremony marking the 79th Police Day.

"Police must drastically enhance their advanced investigative capabilities in line with the rapid pace of technological development," Yoon said during the ceremony held at the Korean National Police Agency headquarters in Seoul.

"Police should accelerate the development of identification systems for fake and manipulated content, such as deepfakes, and work in collaboration with relevant agencies to eradicate digital sex crimes," he added.

Yoon also called on police to focus on criminals that harm ordinary citizens and impose strict punishments on them.

"Police should fully confiscate criminal proceeds and financial sources to fundamentally cut off the links within the criminal ecosystem," he said.

He instructed law enforcement authorities to impose strong punishment on crimes against minors and vulnerable groups and implement comprehensive safety nets for victims, including protection facilities and psychological support.

"Crimes against vulnerable individuals, such as stalking, domestic violence and child abuse, must be firmly dealt with from the outset to break the perpetrators' will to commit crimes," he said. (Yonhap)