Korea’s Serious Hidden Camera Problem: Please Help Korean Women

There is a Korean porn site that is among the most visited websites in the country. The alarming problem with this site is that it hosts a large number of illegal and criminal videos.

A significant portion of the content consists of molka, videos secretly filmed with hidden cameras. These recordings capture women in public toilets in various places, such as subways and department stores, and even in private homes, without their knowledge or consent.

Worse, the site features real rape videos, in which women appear unconscious, and many of them contain sensitive information about the victims, such as their names, ages, addresses, workplaces and schools. Videos of minors are also widespread: a search for “middle school student” yields more than 3,000 videos.

Videos of victims of the infamous Nth Room and Burning Sun incidents have also been uploaded to this site.

There are also hacked CCTV videos, some of which were filmed in hospitals, including a gruesome case where an abortion procedure was filmed and posted as pornography. This site even hosts hacked videos from private locations.

Despite numerous reports from Korean women and activists, this site remains operational, with new hidden camera videos being uploaded daily. Shockingly, only a small number of news outlets have covered this issue, and no significant action has been taken to shut down the site.

This hidden camera crime, or molka, has been rampant in Korea for years. Women have been protesting and advocating for change, but the situation has not improved. Many women feel that their lives are being turned into pornography without their consent, including through deepfake videos, hidden cameras and revenge porn. The fear of being secretly recorded has become so great that women are even afraid to use public toilets.

Even foreigners can fall victim to this hidden camera crime. Moreover, this site is so easily accessible. Therefore, this problem is not just a domestic one; it requires international attention to pressure authorities to take action and shut down this site.

I won’t mention the site here to avoid drawing even more attention to the victims’ videos, especially since some of these hidden camera clips have been viewed over 73,000 times. I haven’t visited the site myself, but just reading about it is disturbing enough.

“Welcome to Video” was the largest dark web site distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM), run by South Korean Jong Woo Son. From 2015 to 2018, the site used Bitcoin for anonymity and attracted a global user base. Thanks to international cooperation between the US, UK, Germany, and South Korea, the site was shut down in 2018. More than 300 people were arrested, including Son, and 23 children were rescued, marking a major victory against online child exploitation.

I hope this site can also be closed down through international cooperation and justice.