S. Korean woman given rare jail term for spycam crime

SEOUL: A South Korean court yesterday slapped a woman with a rare jail term for secretly photographing a male nude model, in a case that sparked controversy over double standards.

High-tech South Korea has been battling a growing epidemic of so-called ‘molka’ or spycam videos, which largely involve men secretly filming women in schools, offices, trains, toilets, changing rooms and on the street.

Spycam crimes reported to police surged from around 1,100 in 2010 to more than 6,500 last year, and many offenders share or sell photos and videos online.

According to official statistics about 98 per cent of offenders are men – ranging from school teachers and college professors to church pastors and police officers – while more than 80 per cent of victims are women.

But in the latest case the woman in her 20s – also a nude model – was sentenced to 10 months in prison for taking a picture of her male counterpart at a Seoul art college and sharing it on the internet in May.

She was arrested days later and paraded in front of television cameras while police raided her home to search for evidence – described by many activists as an uncharacteristically swift and aggressive response. Patriarchal values are deeply ingrained in South Korea despite its economic and technological advances.