YouTuber Prosecuted for Installing Illegal Cameras at 40 Polling Stations... Also Recorded Conversations of Public Officials

A YouTuber who installed illegal cameras at 40 early voting sites nationwide ahead of the April 10 general election has been brought to trial.

The Criminal Division 6 of Incheon District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Eom Jae-sang) announced on the 23rd that YouTuber A (48) was arrested and indicted on charges including trespassing and violation of the Communications Privacy Protection Act.

A is accused of installing illegal cameras at 40 early voting and counting sites in 10 cities nationwide, including Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, from the 8th to the 28th of last month ahead of the April 10 general election.

He was also found to have secretly recorded conversations of public officials five times using illegal cameras at administrative welfare centers where early voting sites were set up. A mainly installed small cameras secretly next to water purifiers in administrative welfare centers and disguised them as communication devices by attaching stickers with the names of specific telecommunications companies.

YouTuber who installed illegal cameras at early voting stations nationwide
Image source=Yonhap News

During police investigation, A claimed, "I intended to monitor the manipulation of early voting rates by the Election Commission." A, who has been active as a YouTuber raising suspicions of election fraud, was also found to have installed cameras inside early voting sites during the 2022 presidential election and last year's by-election for the Gangseo District Office in Seoul.

A prosecution official stated, "A secretly trespassed into a total of 41 early voting sites and installed illegal cameras at 40 of them," adding, "We will thoroughly prepare for the trial to ensure that a sentence commensurate with the crime is handed down."