Man fined W6 million over women’s toilet spycam

Spycams were hidden in various items

A man in his 20s was fined 6 million won ($5,360) for secretly videotaping inside women’s toilets in North Chungcheong Province in May.

The Cheongju Provincial Court made the ruling on Wednesday, finding the man, 21, guilty of violating the Sexual Violence Act. The court also ordered the accused to do a 40-hour sexual crime treatment program.

“It was a serious crime that deserves a tough punishment,” presiding judge Lee Ji-hyung said. “But the ruling was made after taking into account that the accused had kept the videotapes to himself, not sharing with others, and expressed deep remorse.”

It was the latest ruling on so-called “molka”, or spycam videos, that involve men secretly filming women in schools, offices, trains, toilets and changing rooms. Tens of thousands of women recently took to the streets in protest, calling for a crackdown and heavy punishment for spycam pornography.

The number of spycam crimes reported to police has surged from around 1,100 in 2010 to more than 6,500 last year. Offenders have included school teachers, professors, doctors, church pastors, government officials, police officers and even a court judge.

For instance, a man, 43, was reportedly arrested in July for secretly filming occupants of Seoul motels over four years, installing ultra-mini lenses inside TV speakers and other equipment after posing as a guest. A police raid uncovered more than 20,000 spycam videos at his home.

By Park Si-soo,

(Korea Times)