'My life is not your porn,' says thousands of South Korean women protestor in Seoul over hidden sex cameras
More than thousands of women gathered in South Seoul on Saturday calling for a crackdown on spy cam pornography, in one of the country's biggest ever female-only protests.
Perpetrators film or photograph women with hidden cameras in public spaces.
Although distributing pornography is illegal in South Korea, the videos and pictures are shared widely online.
Organisers say women live in constant fear of being photographed or filmed without their knowledge.
Women carried placards and banners with messages like "My life is not your porn", the women were mostly teenagers or in their 20s - seen as the main victims of the hidden cameras.
"Those men who film such videos! Those who upload them! Those who watch them! All of them should be punished sternly!" they chanted.
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The women covered their faces with masks, hats and sunglasses as instructed by the organisers.
Demonstrators said around 55,000 women took part, although police put the figure at around 20,000.
Recently, police arrested a 25-year-old woman in May for secretly photographing a male colleague who posed nude for university art students. She then shared the picture online.
According to the law, a maximum five-year prison term or 10 million won ($8,970; £6,770) fine for creating sexual images, and a maximum seven year sentence and 30 million won ($26,900; £20,200) fine for distributing them for profit, protesters say many receive far lighter punishments.
South Korea has struggled to contain a rise in the crime in recent years.
The number of hidden camera crimes rose from 1,100 in 2010 to more than 6,500 in 2017.
Since 2004, the country has mandated that all smart phones should make loud shutter noises when they take a photo or video to make people aware of their use.
President Moon Jae-in said the crime had become "part of daily life".
Last week he reportedly told a cabinet meeting that offenders should "suffer greater damage than the damage they inflict", urging officials to look for stronger punishments such as notifying employers of any perpetrators on staff.
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First published: 8 July 2018, 14:38 IST