[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Supreme Court has ruled that even if a man took photos of his girlfriend’s body with her consent, secretly taking photos of her sleeping naked constitutes a sex crime.
On the 9th, the Supreme Court’s 2nd Division (Presiding Justice Park Sang-ok) overturned the lower court’s acquittal in the appeal trial of Mr. A, who was charged with violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Violence Crimes (camera voyeurism), and remanded the case to the Busan District Court.
Mr. A was prosecuted for allegedly taking photos of his girlfriend’s body and face while she was sleeping naked four times between 2017 and 2018 using his mobile phone camera.
The first trial acknowledged that Mr. A did not obtain explicit consent from his girlfriend before taking the photos. However, it focused on the fact that during the usual process of photographing his girlfriend’s body parts, she did not clearly refuse and sometimes consented.
Considering the usual relationship between the two, the court found no evidence to conclude that Mr. A knowingly took naked photos despite his girlfriend’s opposition and acquitted him. The second trial maintained the same judgment as the first trial.
The acquittal was overturned by the Supreme Court. The court recognized that Mr. A took photos with his girlfriend’s tacit consent in general but ruled that it could not be concluded that she consented to photos taken while sleeping naked.
It also pointed out that the photos and videos usually taken focused on specific body parts of the girlfriend, but the sleeping photos showed her entire face. Since these photos could reveal her identity, it is difficult to presume that the girlfriend consented.
Furthermore, the court noted that the girlfriend repeatedly demanded Mr. A to delete the videos he had taken, and that Mr. A secretly took photos of his girlfriend sleeping naked, indicating that Mr. A was aware that she opposed the photo-taking.
The court stated, “Mr. A’s actions constitute taking photos of a person’s body that may arouse sexual desire or shame against the subject’s will.”
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