Molka

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.

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.

As 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.

Prosecution rates for molka crimes are low, and punishment through fines or jail time is weaker in practice than stated in South Korean law.

In June 2021, the Human Rights Watch named South Korea for leading in spycam usage for digital sex crimes.

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.

Molka crimes have been called a product of fast, easy access to internet technology and "backwards" misogyny, or an example of "digital male sexual violence".

[9] Revenge porn, or private photos and footage taken and circulated by former lovers or partners without consent of the filmed subject, is a related form of harassment thought to be roughly as widespread a problem in South Korea.

[10] Molka has also been found to be secretly installed in motel rooms, and the content of the recorded films is explicitly sexual rather than capturing women's bodies alone.

The videos, posted online and accessible for a monthly subscription fee, were hosted on an overseas server so that the cameras' IP addresses would be harder to detect.

Even President Moon Jae-in acknowledged in May 2018 that the spycam epidemic had become 'part of daily life' in South Korea and that there should be greater punishment for offenders.

[12] Monthly protests against spy cameras from May to August 2018 in Seoul were in part catalyzed by one molka incident where the perpetrator was a woman who secretly filmed a nude male model.

Most molka films are not readily classified as 'illegal violence' if cameras are not specifically zoomed in to particular body parts or directly placed in garments.

However, the continued growth of molka crimes and lack of effective conviction following the creation of the policy shows a gap between the written law and its practical implementation.