Spy porn crackdown: Seoul tasks 8,000 workers with searching for hidden cams in public bathrooms
South Korea’s capital has expanded its crackdown on the ‘hidden cam’ porn industry, ordering daily inspections of all public bathrooms for spying devices. It comes after a series of mass protests against the porn genre.
Seoul authorities unveiled the new plan on Sunday aimed at ensuring that the city’s 20,554 public restrooms are free of secret cameras. Around 8,000 workers in charge of maintaining public restrooms will now also be tasked with looking for cameras installed by adult ‘filmmakers’ to make hidden cam porn, also known as ‘molka’.
Prior to the introduction of the new measure to fight the flourishing but illegal industry, only 50 people were on the city’s payroll to check for hidden cameras, meaning that some of the facilities were checked once a month at best.
So far, the authorities have been unable to contain the spy porn epidemic, with hidden camera-related offences surging from 2,400 in 2012 to 6,470 cases last year, Yonhap reported. At the same time, the employees tasked with locating hidden cameras in public facilities have not actually managed to find any in the past two years.
In addition to the increase in the number of employees handling the issue, the city authorities singled out around 1,000 at-risk restrooms to be given special attention by the inspectors.
The South Korean government has ramped up its fight against molka creators after outrage over spy porn sparked a wave of record protests in Seoul this summer. Tens of thousands of women have hit the streets each month since May to protest the spying on unsuspecting female victims in public bathrooms, crowded trains, and other public spaces with hidden cameras by predominantly male suspects.
In July, 55,000 women turned up to a protest according to the organizers, with police estimates putting the number at 20,000. Over 40,000 people took part in a similar protest in August.
“You never know if there’s a spy cam lens hidden inside... filming you while you pee,” a student told AFP at the time.
Many of the women taking part in the protests covered their faces with masks to avoid potential revenge.
Activists have been urging the authorities to impose harsher punishments for the making and distributing of molka porn, as well as tightening control over the sale of spy cams.
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