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The Guardian

Agence France-Presse

Police in South Korea have arrested two men for secretly filming 1,600 hotel guests and live-streaming the footage online, in the latest hidden spycam scandal to hit the country.
The suspects, who have not been named, set up secret cameras in 42 rooms at 30 hotels in 10 South Korean cities between November last year and the beginning of March, media reports said.
The accused went to extraordinary lengths to install the cameras, the cyber investigation unit at the Seoul metropolitan police agency said.
Mini-cameras with 1mm lenses were found in digital boxes, hair dryer holders and wall sockets.
How the K-pop sex scandal exposes Korea’s culture of toxic masculinity
The suspects then live-streamed over 800 videos of couples having sex to a website – which had 4,000 subscribed members, some who paid 50,000 won (US$44) for access to “exclusive” content – via a server based overseas.
By the time the website was taken down this month, the suspects had earned 7 million won (US$6,200) from 97 people who paid a monthly fee to access the material, the Korea Herald said.
“About 50 per cent of the 1,600 victims are male,” an official from the National Police Agency told AFP.
Two other men are being investigated in connection with the allegations.

Police said there was no evidence the hotels were aware that their guests were being filmed without their knowledge.
The arrests come a week after singer and TV celebrity Jung Joon-young admitted he had filmed himself having sex with 10 women without their consent.
Jung said he then shared the secretly-filmed footage in a group chat room whose members allegedly included Seungri, a K-pop star facing allegations of running an illegal prostitution ring out of Seoul nightclubs. Seungri has retired and vowed to clear his name.
Yong Jun-hyung admits to watching illicit sex videos, becoming third K-pop star to quit
South Korea is battling an epidemic of molka – secretly filmed videos of a sexual nature that target women in public places such as toilets and changing rooms, but also in their own homes.
The rise in cases prompted tens of thousands of women to take to the streets of Seoul last summer to demand longer sentences for perpetrators. The authorities responded by increasing patrols of the city’s public toilets – a measure campaigners say is ineffective.

More than 5,400 were arrested for spycam-related crimes in South Korea in 2017, but fewer than two per cent were jailed.
The hotel spycam suspects face up to five years in prison and a heavy fine for distributing illegal videos.
“The police agency strictly deals with criminals who post and share illegal videos as they severely harm human dignity,” a Seoul police agency official told the Korea Herald.
In South Korea, motels are a relatively affordable option for many travellers from home and overseas, and a popular destination for couples seeking privacy away from parents or other family members.
But they have also long been associated with illicit sex business and crime.
In response to the livestreaming case, a woman from Uruguay tweeted: “Now I won’t feel safe, literally anywhere” in South Korea.


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South Korea

Two South Korean men arrested for secret spycam filming of 1,600 guests in love hotels

Protesters shout slogans during a rally in Seoul against spycam porn. Photo: AFP

This picture taken on August 18, 2016 shows a member of Seoul city's "hidden camera-hunting" squad (L) and a policewoman (R) inspecting a women's bathroom stall to find "secret camera" at a museum in Seoul. South Korea takes pride in its tech prowess, from ultra-fast broadband to Samsung's cutting-edge smartphones. 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. / AFP PHOTO / JUNG YEON-JE / TO GO WITH AFP STORY: SKorea-technology-crime-gender, FEATURE by Jung Hawon

South Korean singer Jung Joon-young arrives for questioning on accusations of illicitly taping and sharing sex videos on social media, at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji

South Korean K-pop and TV star Jung Joon-young ‘sorry’ for sharing sex videos filmed without women’s consent

South Korean singer and TV personality Jung Joon-young. Photo: Instagram

South Korean singer and TV personality Jung Joon-young.

This picture taken on February 27, 2019 shows Seungri, a member of popular K-pop boy group Big Bang, arriving for questioning over criminal allegations at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul. - South Korean pop star Seungri on March 11 announced his retirement from show business amid mounting criminal allegations over his involvement in a sex-for-business favour deal. (Photo by - / YONHAP / AFP) / - South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT NO ARCHIVES RESTRICTED TO SUBSCRIPTION USE

'The Great Seungsby' in an advert for Tinder in South Korea. Photo: Twitter

Female protesters shout slogans during a rally against 'spy-cam porn' in central Seoul on August 4, 2018. The target of their fury: so-called "molka" or spycam videos which largely involve men secretly filming women in schools, offices, trains, toilets and changing rooms and which are so prevalent they make headlines on a daily basis. / AFP PHOTO / Ed JONES

K-pop star Seungri announces retirement amid sex escort investigation

K-pop star Seungri of BIGBANG fame. Photo: AP

Big Bang

Yong Jun-hyung admits to watching illicit sex videos, becoming third K-pop star to quit as scandal engulfs industry

A low point: Yong Jun-hyung from the K-pop boy band Highlight. Photo: Roy Issa

epa07435478 South Korean Singer Jung Joon-young (C) talks to reporters after arriving at the Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, 14 March 2019, to be questioned over allegations that he secretly filmed himself engaging in sexual activities with women and shared the footage with fellow entertainers in a mobile chat room. Jung is accused of recording the videos, without consent, of at least 10 women between 2015 and 2016. EPA-EFE/YONHAP SOUTH KOREA OUT

K-pop boy band Highlight (left to right): Son Dong-woon, Lee Gi-kwang, Yang Yo-seob and Yong Jun-hyung, photographed at the Hong Kong International Airport in Chek Lap Kok. 28JUN18 SCMP / Roy Issa

Seungri, a member of South Korean K-pop band Big Bang, arrives to be questioned over a sex bribery case at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul, South Korea, March 14, 2019. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Fearing victim-blaming, South Korean female stars deny appearing in K-pop sex videos

Seungri, a member of the K-pop boy group BIGBANG, arrives for questioning over criminal allegations at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul on March 14, 2019. - South Korean pop star Seungri on March 11 announced his retirement from show business amid mounting criminal investigations including his alleged involvement in a sex-for-investments scandal. (Photo by JUNG Yeon-Je / AFP)

South Korea’s entertainment industry has a history of targeting female stars caught up in “revenge porn” sex video scandals. Photo: AFP

K-pop sex and drugs scandals are damaging its squeaky-clean image

BigBang boy band member Seungri is embroiled in a sex-for-investment criminal investigation. Photo: AFP

Woman protesters stage a rally to demand stronger government action to fight the spread of intimate photos and footage taken by hidden cameras, which they say have women living in constant anxiety and distress, in Seoul, South Korea, Saturday, July 7, 2018. (Ryu Hyo-lim/Yonhap via AP)

This picture taken on March 12, 2019 shows K-pop star Jung Joon-young (C) surrounded by reporters as he arrives at Incheon international airport in Incheon. - A burgeoning K-pop sex scandal claimed a second scalp as a singer who rose to fame after coming second in one of South Korea's top talent shows admitted secretly filming himself having sex and sharing the footage. Jung Joon-young, 30, announced his immediate retirement from showbusiness amid allegations he shot and shared sexual imagery without his partners' consent. (Photo by - / YONHAP / AFP) / - South Korea OUT / REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT NO ARCHIVES RESTRICTED TO SUBSCRIPTION USE

What K-pop sex-and-drug scandals say about the dark reality that belies South Korea’s conservative values

When performing on stage, K-pop acts such as Red Velvet are hyper-sexualised, wearing skimpy clothes and dancing provocatively. Yet off-stage they present a squeaky-clean image.

K-pop acts such as Blackpink on stage are hyper-sexualised, wearing skimpy clothes and dancing provocatively, playing up the well-known “lolita” complex and appealing to older male fans. Their image is then carefully constructed to have them perceived as blissfully unaware of what a real grown-up, modern relationship is like.

News

Asia

East Asia

The suspects hid the cameras in locations such as hair dryer holders and wall sockets at 30 hotels in South Korea, media reports said
More than 800 illegally-filmed videos were live-streamed to 97 subscribers


The suspects live-streamed videos of couples having sex to a group of subscribers, after hiding spycams in hair dryer holders and wall sockets at 30 hotels.


Sexual harassment and assault

Technology

Crime

K-pop idols