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South Korea's AI Basic Act

Since 22 January 2026, businesses offering generative AI in South Korea must mark what it makes, and make deep fakes clearly recognisable. Every file Kennmarq.com marks carries machine-readable marks; send deepfake=true and it also carries a visible Korean label, AI 생성, drawn in and signed.

In short

  • Who: businesses that offer generative AI products or services in South Korea, foreign ones included; some must name a domestic representative.
  • When: since 22 January 2026. Fines, up to KRW 30 million, are suspended for at least a year.
  • What: tell users in advance that the service runs on AI; mark its output as AI-generated, machine-readably if users are told so; make deep fakes clearly recognisable to people.
  • Kennmarq.com: a watermark and signed Content Credentials on every file; with markets=kr and deepfake=true, the visible label in Korean, which can't be turned off; a signed receipt.
Checked on 24 October 2026. This page explains what Kennmarq.com does; it isn't legal advice.

What the Act asks

The Framework Act on the Development of Artificial Intelligence and the Establishment of a Foundation for Trust, the AI Basic Act for short, took effect on 22 January 2026 with its Enforcement Decree. Its transparency article asks three things of a business offering generative AI:

  • tell users in advance that the product or service runs on AI;
  • mark its output as made by generative AI. The mark may be machine-readable, such as a watermark or metadata, if users are told the output carries one. The guidelines are stricter for output that leaves your service, downloaded or shared, than for output shown inside it;
  • for content that is hard to tell from reality, deep fakes, tell people in a way they clearly recognise, and for artistic work, in a way that doesn't spoil it.

Marks on every file

Every picture, song and clip we mark leaves your service carrying a signed, time-stamped C2PA manifest that says it was made with AI, and an invisible watermark that leads back to it when platforms strip the metadata. Anyone can check a picture at kennmarq.com/check.

Deep fakes: AI 생성

With deepfake=true we draw the visible label into the picture, or every frame of the clip, before the watermark, and sign it: AI 생성 (AI-generated) for created, AI 편집 (AI-edited) for composite and edited. With markets=kr it's in Korean by default and can't be turned off. The capitalised “AI” is the EU's icon too, so the same file serves both.

The label AI 생성
curl
curl https://api.kennmarq.com/v1/mark \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $KENNMARQ_API_KEY" \
  -F file=@portrait.jpg \
  -F source=edited \
  -F markets=kr \
  -F deepfake=true \
  -o portrait.marked.jpg

Deep fakes in sound need a notice people can hear, which we don't add yet: such a song is refused. See visible labels for sizes, corners and styles, and the receipt that lists them.

What stays with you

  • Telling users in advance that your service runs on generative AI, and once that its output carries marks.
  • Deciding which files are deep fakes.
  • A domestic representative, if the Act requires one of you.

Sources