These women hunt hi-tech peeping Toms in South Korea where secret camera porn is rampant
Seoul has an all-female hidden camera-hunting squad - and they are at the forefront of a battle against ‘molka’ or secret camera porn
Walking into an empty women’s bathroom stall, Park Kwang-mi waves a hand-held detector around the toilet seat, paper roll holder, doorknob and even the ventilation grill on the ceiling.
“It’s my job to make sure there’s no camera to film women while they relieve themselves,” the 49-year-old said after similarly inspecting dozens of public toilet stalls at a museum in Seoul.
“It’s weird that there are people who want to see something like that ... but this is necessary to help women feel safe.”
A member of Seoul city’s all-female “hidden camera-hunting” squad, Park is at the forefront of a battle against “molka”, or “secret camera” porn.
South Korea takes pride in its tech prowess, from ultra-fast broadband to cutting-edge smartphones. Around 90 per cent of its 50 million people possess smartphones -the highest rate in the world.
But it’s a culture that has also given rise to an army of tech-savvy peeping Toms in a still male-dominated country with a poor record on women’s rights.
Many use special smartphone apps to film up women’s skirts as they ride subway escalators or sit at desks, and spy cameras to gather footage from changing rooms and toilet stalls.