To this post on Korea Beat, I wrote the following comment:
So just film them with non-hidden cameras.
This is inane and stupid. It's a public place. So filming/snapping pics of people in a public place, exposing parts of the body that are *GASP* readily visible to anyone -- that's a crime?
Yeah, getting up in people's grill and continuing to take pictures while violating their personal space, or continuing to photograph after being asked to stop -- that's harrassment. You don't need a camera to harass. Or sneaking cams into saunas, bathrooms, or sticking special equipment up skirts -- that's private space and wrong. And illegal anyway.
But calling taking a picture of someone on the beach in a public space "sexual violence" is a bit much. Sure, it might not be "nice" or you might be accused of being a dick, but it's not the same as groping someone against their will.
This is what makes people, in a land where everyone and their dog has DSLR's and other photo equipment, scared to take pics of other people. And why people continue to largely use the $5,000 cameras and $6,000 lenses to take pictures of their cream sauce spaghetti, cafe au lait swirls, and flowers.
Seriously. This country needs to get some cops who know the law. And as a real photographer who wants to actually get down to Haeundae to take some Martin Parr-esque pictures, I could do without the additional photo paranoia that could land me in jail. Especially when I could be mistaken for the apparent Pakistani paparazzi.
Oh, that's right. He's a Magnum photographer. Which I guess automatically means he's not a pervert. Well, we all know that Koreans like brand names. God forbid -- had Martin Parr been walking down the beach in Haeundae with his 60mm macro lens and ring flash (which is usually used by dentists and in other medical photography), he might have been arrested as one of those foreign pervert photographers, too.
Well, until they found out that he's from Magnum. Because in Korea, the law's all still relative to who you are and whom you know, right?
The operative word in the original Korean article is '몰카' (molka), which is a word I absolutely hate. From the followup comment I made to Korea Beat's post:
As a photographer who has to deal with this word all the time (몰카), I'd say it doesn't really translate as what we think of in English as "hidden camera", as in a fiber-optic cable made for sticking under skirts, or cameras that look like tie clips.
"Molka" means "mol" (secretly, or without asking permission) + "ka" (the Korean abbreviation for camera).
Koreans use this term (and "도촬") to refer to ANY pictures taken without someone's expressed permission. So, as I point out to Koreans all the time, all the vaunted works of photographers from Cartier-Bresson and Walker Evans, to Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, and Martin Parr, and including pretty much every great Korean photographer from the 50's to 80's, including the great Kim Ki Chan -- they'd all fall into that category as well.
Yet many of the people mentioned above grace the walls of museums around the world and have added a great deal to the quality and understanding of the world around us through their art.
In Korea, any picture taken of another human being without expressed consent is "molka." Which compresses everything from legitimate candid and street photography into the same category as sticking a fiber-optic cable up a woman's skirt in the bathroom.
So, to be clear, the article isn't talking about special devices, as "hidden camera" in English would imply, but simply taking pictures without expressed consent.
Which itself IS NOT A CRIME, even according to Korean law.
Damn skippy. This continued photo paranoia and lack of a proper understanding of the Korean law irritates me to no end.
Even when I attended the Magnum photo exhibition recently, the people next to me were clicking their teeth and going, "몰카 찍었네."
Aaaaargh!
