A taekwondo studio head in his 30s was sentenced to prison for installing a micro camera in the women's changing room of the studio he runs and illegally filming the bodies of child and female students for years.
The Suwon District Court Criminal Division 13 (Presiding Judge Jang Seok-jun) on the 28th sentenced A, in his 30s, to seven years in prison on charges including violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses (production of sexual exploitation materials). The court also ordered completion of 80 hours of sexual violence treatment programs and a seven-year employment restriction at institutions related to children, youth, and people with disabilities.
Prosecutors earlier sought a 10-year prison term for A.
The court said, "The defendant, despite being an educator who should guide the healthy growth of children, installed illegal filming cameras in a changing room and continued the crimes for a long period," adding, "Up until just before the arrest, the defendant repeatedly filmed scenes of child students and female instructors changing clothes."
It added, "The defendant claims not to have managed the videos, but digital forensics revealed indications that some videos were checked directly," and "Very young child victims are included, and it has been confirmed that the footage was even distributed on overseas illegal websites, so the criminal nature is very serious."
From March 2023 to November last year, A was brought to trial on charges of installing a micro camera inside the women's changing room of a taekwondo studio A runs in Yongin, Gyeonggi, and illegally filming female students and others more than 6,300 times.
During the police investigation, it was also confirmed that some of the videos A filmed were leaked to overseas illegal websites. Access to the site is currently blocked in Korea.