Look carefully at the pictures in the tweet: Would you have recognized the cameras that are hidden here if they were not circled?

https://t.co/6UzicjUGjI
피해 같은 거 안드 분들 존나 존나 존나 존나 존나 존나 존나 존나 존나 존나 피해 피해 피해 피해 피해 피해 피해 피해. Pic.twitter.com/Jwz5IQH16Y

- 둠 라곤 (m 공팡 인) ️ (@mandrake_KMRD) 3 August 2018

The South Korean news site Ziksir has posted the picture to highlight a ubiquitous danger: miniature cameras can be hidden everywhere - in mirrors, in pictures, even in water bottles.

On Thursday, the South Korean police reported that they arrested four men who secretly filmed over 1600 hotel guests across the country for months, streaming the recordings live. Private situations - instantly distributed on the net. The suspects are said to have installed the cameras in, among other things, hair driers and socket covers of 30 hotels, the lenses were only about one millimeter in size. The shots are said to have been sent to around 4000 paying customers.

Illegal filming is a big problem in South Korea. "Molka" is the name of this crime, with 6400 cases reported to the South Korean police in 2017.

Many women in the country are trying to spot hidden cameras when they move to swimming pools or use public toilets. They are careful when wearing a skirt and climbing stairs from the subway. It is a real fear. Because they could be secretly filmed and the videos uploaded to pornographic sites.

Last year, it was enough for the South Koreans - 88 percent of the victims of "Molka" are women. Tens of thousands took to the streets to protest against the spread of intimate imagery. They held up signs saying "My life is not your porn". And they hid their faces behind masks.

"Digital crimes do not just happen once, the crime recurs every time the video is played," says an associate at the Advocacy Center for Victims of Sexual Sex Crime in South Korea's Seoul capital. It is important to understand the pain of the victim. "This is a serious criminal act, we have to take the victims seriously."

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Demonstration against hidden cameras

The angry protests of the women have brought them great attention, and they have also made international headlines. President Moon Jae In complained in May that the hidden cameras had become "part of everyday life". He demanded - as well as the demonstrators - a tougher action against perpetrators.

Many women criticize that the deeds are often played down as gimmicks by young men - and the police do not adequately. They also complain that the perpetrators are often not punished severely enough: It signals that it is a trivial offense.

In South Korea, the illegal filming and publishing of the material on pornographic sites can be punished with a prison term of up to five years or a fine of up to € 7,800. But only in 5.3 percent of the cases in the past few years ever imposed a prison sentence, criticized the Association of Korean lawyers. The staff member of the counseling center for victims of digital sex crimes explains that in many cases, the perpetrators were sentenced to imprisonment, but this had been repealed by a higher authority.

For women, this increases uncertainty. The perpetrators have little to fear, while they have to ask themselves daily where they may be filmed.

ziksir.com

Often the cameras are where you are not expected.

The South Korean authorities have been trying in recent years to prevent or complicate the secret filming. In the country where 90 percent of adults have a smartphone, the cell phone cameras can only take pictures with a shutter sound. But there are apps that handle this. The police say they have also stepped up the illegal platform operators.

The introduction of inspectors in Seoul caused a sensation last year. Since autumn they check the 20,000 public toilets of the capital on hidden cameras. With detectors they control toilet bowls, flush buttons and toilet bowls.

But while the public keeps discussing illegal filming, she has learned in recent weeks that even revered pop stars are among the perpetrators.

On Thursday, singer and television star Jung Joon Young was arrested. He is said to have secretly filmed ten women when he had sex with them. He sent the videos to friends in a chat group. Part of the chat group was the K-pop star Seungri, who is involved in another scandal.

The broadcaster SBS TV has reportedly published the chat logs, the newspaper "Korea Times" has translated them into English.

Accordingly, the perpetrators talk in a chat about the fact that a young woman in one of the skilful videos is unconscious. "You raped her," Jung writes. Behind him he puts a laughing emoji.