Women who have suffered hidden cameras in South Korea: "I have been repeatedly asked if your film was made the way you like it." | infodesk4n

Kyung Mei (pseudonym) was ridiculed and ridiculed online, and he was questioned by police and authorities for hours. The reason was that Kyung Mei accused the famous "K-pop" musician in South Korea and his boyfriend for filming her while he had sex with Kyung Mei.

 

Speaking to the NEWS AGENCY, he said that he had suffered a digital crime but "there was no one there to listen to it."

 "I was at school, young and alone. No one was with me. I just wanted to die, but it didn't happen and if I died, no one would know the truth about Jung Joon Yong.

 Her boyfriend became a star with the help of a televised talent show and had a huge audience in East Asia.

 Kyung Mei says that they are loving and compassionate children, but then she made a video between the two without permission.

 She went to the police for the first time in August 2016, but says that the police did not receive Jung Joon Yong's phone call and then Kyung Mei dropped the case.

 She knew it would be difficult to sue a celebrity, but she had no idea that they would treat her as if they had accused her, not because she had accused her of her.

 The police told me not to report the incident. She said it would be difficult to bring a case against a famous person. So the prosecutor called me to question me, not with him. I was repeatedly asked if his movie was made the way he likes it. '

 "I felt embarrassed, intimidated and forced to wonder if I had not brought a case against an innocent person."

 It took another three years for the truth about Jung Joon Yong to come out when the truth about him was presented to a judge.

 In 2019, the police received a video report on her phone and an order was eventually issued to seize her phone.

 Police discovered that Jung Joo kept secret photos of 12 women and shared them with his friends in a chat room.

 

Jung Jun has been in prison for five years.

 

A police spokesman told the NEWS AGENCY that the officers involved in the Kyung Mei case were also being investigated.

 "These hateful phrases can kill women."

 Kyung Mei received some support after the imprisonment of her lover, but in 2016 few people trusted her. They were harassed online and found it difficult to find friends.

 "My friends said that she was ruining her life. It didn't matter how much she suffered, and the media talked about me all day. The whole country talked about me. Nobody defended me."

 "These horrible words can kill women," she told the NEWS AGENCY.

 Unfortunately, trying to report digital sex crimes to South Korean authorities is not a unique experience.

 hhhhhhhhh

Human Rights Watch has compiled a detailed survey of such victims in the country, which found that there are major obstacles to justice for them.

 Digital sex crimes are on the rise around the world. Most of these adventures involve men taking secret photos and videos of women and girls and sharing images.

 Advances in technology mean that these cameras are very small in size, about the size of a shirt button, and can be installed in public places such as bathrooms, hotel rooms, and dressing rooms.

 Due to the high speed internet in South Korea, these photos are quickly downloaded and shared, and sometimes even sold.

 Between 2013 and 2018, South Korea reported more than 30,000 covert camera filming incidents.

 "The victims we interviewed had a terrible experience with the police," Heather Barr, author of the report, told us.

 "On very sensitive issues, the victims were openly interrogated, interrogated for hours, told that it was their job to gather all the evidence, sent it from one office to another, an address was sent to investigate the case. He was harassed and threatened with defamation criminal if he didn't.

 "We also heard that the police would take inviolable photographs of the victims as evidence and distribute them at the police station to laugh with their friends."

 “Imagine this kind of behavior when you are probably going through the worst period of your life.

 The NEWS AGENCY contacted the South Korean police for comment and a spokesperson issued a written statement recommending a number of measures to address the problem.

 The NEWS AGENCY contacted the South Korean police for comment and a spokesperson issued a written statement recommending a number of measures to address the problem.

 He told us that a team has been formed in every province and city in the country to investigate cyber sex crimes.

 

"We are developing multiple solutions for investigation and regulation, as well as protection and assistance to victims," ​​the statement said.

 The police regularly promised to educate their officers on this and to provide victims with their own gender investigators to make them feel more comfortable. A rest center has also been created.

 "You can kill anyone without weapons."

 

But for some, the trauma is too much. According to a Human Rights Watch report, which included an online survey of 500 victims, the trauma of the crime was so intense that fear of depression and suicide increased among victims.

 Over the past four years, I have worked with my team to interview many hidden camera victims and their families. They include the parents of a woman who spent her own life because a co-worker made a secret video of her in an office dressing room.

 She must have felt that she would never be free from the stigma of abuse.

 "You can kill anyone without weapons," the woman's father told me in 2019.

 "The damage it causes may be the same for everyone, but it can affect everyone differently." Some people may move on, but others, like my daughter, may not.

 Kyung Mei urges South Korean society to reconsider her views on victims of digital sex crimes.

 "People who can be treated badly are not victims, and they are not victims of this crime because they are dumb or know nothing," she said.

 "It's just that they weren't lucky. If you're not lucky, you can be your target."

 

Kyung Mei found some peace in the field.

 

“I left school with psychological help. I went to the field without anyone knowing me and, thinking that the world had to change, I silently read thousands of books. Talking to other victims of sexual violence also healed my wound.

 "I gave up the pain in the hope that one day the truth would come out and raise awareness in society."

 Growing awareness in society

 

Seoul, the capital of South Korea, seems very dynamic, but the country is very conservative. This means that in many parts of society, female abuse is not taken as seriously as it should be, and women are often perceived to maintain certain societal standards and assert themselves on gender stereotypes.

 According to victims of digital sex crimes as "dirt".

 

I interviewed a woman in 2018 whose boyfriend was installing a small hidden camera in her bedroom. She says that when she told her parents, her mother blamed her dress.

 However, attitudes are slowly changing, but things are beginning to change.

 Young women, in particular, understand that they can speak openly about it. In 2018, thousands of women took to the streets to shoot down hidden cameras and participate in "I am not my life" demonstrations.

 Some laws have been changed in response to these protests, but violators often face few penalties.

 "All the victims and experts we spoke to were disappointed with the reduced sentences handed down by the judges to the offenders and felt they were fine," says Heather Barr.

 In 2020, 79% of offenders who made movies without their consent were suspended or fined, or sometimes both.

 Under the Sex Crimes Law, filming and broadcasting without consent is punishable by up to seven years in prison, with no minimum penalty, and it is clear that sentences are already being handed down. They are much less harmful for most victims.

 Heather Barr calls on the government to establish a commission to deal with existing digital sex crimes and penalties.

 This would include allowing the victim to seek damages in court in a civil case, which victims cannot do at this time.

 Kyung Mei is also fighting for the legal protection of victims so that they can be protected from online abuse.

 Kyung Mei is also fighting for the legal protection of victims so that they can be protected from online abuse.

 "Korean society now needs to understand the plight of the victims and institutionalize a system to protect those affected legally," she told us.

 The Korean Ministry of Justice told the NEWS AGENCY that the punishment guidelines were changed to reflect the suffering of the victims, starting in January.

 "This is a very important issue for women and girls in South Korea," said Heather Barr.

 “Digital sex crimes reflect the lives of women and girls in South Korea, how they feel in public places, during transportation, when using the bathroom, dressing and trusting someone. Yes. '

 "It is urgent that the government take the necessary measures to prevent these crimes and guarantee justice and compensation to the victims."