Australian TikTok traveller’s creepy warning about ‘hidden cameras’ in South Korea

An Australian TikToker who shares her experiences living in South Korea has issued a travel warning to anyone with plans to visit.

She said the country has a huge issue with hidden spy cameras — known as “molka” in South Korea — and shared her best advice to combat the pervy problem.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Aussie TikToker’s travel warning about hidden cameras in South Korea.

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Australian TikTok creator Jazmyn Jennings’ issued the warning in March, discussing what she said was “a huge problem in South Korea that is not discussed enough by foreigners”.

The travel warning has since been viewed on the platform more than 7.3 million times.

“South Korea has a really huge problem with hidden cameras,” Jennings said.

“If you go into any single female bathroom — it might be the same for males, I don’t know — you will see every single crevice of that bathroom plugged up with wet toilet paper.

“Women do this in South Korea to stop the possibility of a small hidden camera being able to film them, which in a lot of cases is usually broadcasted online for men to watch.

“This issue extends beyond toilets as well, so we’re talking Airbnbs, hotel rooms — basically anywhere that is a private area, you run the risk of being exposed to hidden cameras.”

The problem isn’t new, with illegal filming steadily rising in the country since 2011.

In Seoul, “safety sheriffs” armed with hidden camera detectors were deployed in a months-long 2018 crackdown, instructed to perform daily checks of public bathrooms throughout the city, though it is unclear whether the strategy is still being used.

Two men were arrested by South Korean police in 2019 for live-streaming 1,600 motel guests using hidden cameras in 42 rooms around the country.

The same year, K-POP star Jung Joon-young was sentenced to six years in prison for distributing videos he secretly took while having sex with women.

Thousands protested under the slogan “my life is not your porn”, and police toughened penalties for the peeping tom offence, increasing it to five years in jail or fines of up to 30 million won ($AU33,645). But the issue hasn’t gone away.

“I really recommend buying a hidden camera detector,” Jennings warned.

Hidden camera detectors generally work by scanning for RF signals, and then indicating the presence of hidden cameras with a sound of light, according to security company Norton.

“Then you can either report it or take it away.

“These hidden cameras are getting so ridiculously well disguised.

“You can find them hidden in fire alarm systems, clocks, alarm clocks.”

Last year, documentary filmmaker Youjin Do directed the film Open Shutters, which follows a journalist covering the endemic problem, only to discover she too was being watched.

“Many men consume (the footage) as a ‘natural porn genre’ without feeling guilty,” Youjin wrote on Instagram.

“This is such a sick part of rape culture deep inside of Korean society.”

- With Reuters, CNN