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With the increase in smartphone ownership and rapid development of technology, molka crimes have also been increasingly found in spaces such as public bathrooms, changing rooms, schools, and offices. While the department store stated that the cameras were installed for 'security purposes' to catch thieves and people who threw trash down toilets, the incident received much public criticism. Fixed spycams have been found in public areas in Korea as early as 1997, where secret cameras were found to be installed in the ceiling of a Sinchon department store's women's restroom. More recently, the term molka has become associated with smaller, fixed spycams. The problem of filming someone without authorization, such as men using cell phones to film women on stairs and in subways, has been a common form of molka and has even led to requiring all South Korean cell phone manufacturers to have phones emit loud shutter noises upon taking a picture. In June 2021, the Human Rights Watch named South Korea for leading in spycam usage for digital sex crimes. Many women and critics say that molka crimes and the lack of action taken towards them are a product of distorted gendered violence against women in South Korea and the flaws in the law enforcement system. Prosecution rates for molka crimes are low, and punishment through fines or jail time is weaker in practice than stated in South Korean law.

Women overwhelmingly make up the majority of victims of molka crimes, while men make up the vast majority of perpetrators. South Korea's highly digitized society makes it easy to circulate molka footage and difficult to remove once it has been circulated.Īs the number of spy camera incidents has rapidly increased since 2011, molka crimes have become a prominent point of feminist protest and #MeToo in South Korea. 'Molka' can refer to both the actual cameras as well as the footage later posted online. The voyeuristic images and videos are sold online across various platforms, including popular social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr, without knowledge or consent of those on camera. In South Korea, spy cameras proliferated in the 2010s and are most commonly installed in small holes or cracks in walls in locations such as women's public restrooms and motel rooms. This makes the term denote prank and spy camera at the same time.

Korean spy cam scandal tv#

The expression has been originated from the homonymous title of a Korean prank TV show, which existed from March 1991 to November 1992. Molka is an abbreviation of mollae-kamera ( Korean: 몰래카메라), which means a sneaky camera. Molka ( Korean: 몰카, ) is the Korean term for hidden cameras or miniature spy cameras secretly and illegally installed, often in order to capture voyeuristic images and videos. View of a motel room in South Korea, a possible location for spycams to be installed in order to obtain explicit footage