"Illegal Filming in Women's Restroom Not Classified as Sexual Exploitation Material"… Background of Divergent Court Rulings

Charged with Filming Victims 47 Times Using a Miniature Camera
Guilty to Not Guilty: "Not Indecent Behavior in Restroom"

The act of installing a miniature camera in a women's restroom and filming was judged differently in the first and second trials regarding whether it constitutes 'production of sexual exploitation material.'

On the 29th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Chuncheon Branch of the Seoul High Court (Presiding Judge Kim Hyeong-jin) overturned the original sentence of 5 years imprisonment for A (25), who was indicted on charges of producing and distributing sexual exploitation material under the Youth Protection Act, and sentenced him to 3 years and 6 months imprisonment. Additionally, A was ordered to complete 80 hours of sexual violence treatment programs, disclose and notify personal information for 5 years, and was banned from employment at child and youth-related institutions for 5 years.

Women's restroom stock photo. [Image source=Getty Images]

A was prosecuted for installing a miniature camera in the women's restroom of a building frequently visited by children and adolescents from August to September last year and filming victims 47 times. The indictment included charges of trespassing into the women's restroom for the crime (violation of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act), damaging property by drilling the ceiling to install the miniature camera, and possession of 800 sexual exploitation materials.

The Chuncheon District Court Gangneung Branch, which handled the first trial, regarded the videos produced by filming the victims' bodies that could induce sexual shame as sexual exploitation materials. It found all charges guilty and sentenced A to 5 years imprisonment, stating that "a considerable number of child and adolescent sexual exploitation materials were produced."

However, the appellate court judged that using the restroom without sexual acts is not an obscene act that causes sexual shame or disgust to the general public. Accordingly, it acquitted the charge of producing sexual exploitation materials. Apart from the fact that victims might feel shame, the court reasoned that the act of using the restroom itself is difficult to consider an obscene act that causes sexual shame or disgust to the general public.

The court also found it inappropriate to extend the interpretation of illegal restroom filming videos as sexual exploitation materials. The charge of producing sexual exploitation materials was acquitted, while the remaining charges were found guilty.

The court pointed out, "Many of the victims of the illegal filming crime were children and adolescents, and the defendant, who checked the footage almost daily after entering the building, must have been well aware of these facts but continued the crime, which makes the culpability heavier." However, considering the acquittal on the charge of producing sexual exploitation materials and the defendant's admission of the crime and remorseful attitude, the sentence was reduced.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.