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September 20, 2007
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| A 41-year-old Japanese man, Kobayashi Yasuhiro, has been arrested for secretly taking sexually offensive footage of women, the Jongno Police Precinct announced yesterday. Kobayashi is accused of shooting video footage under the skirt of a woman identified only as Ms. Kim, 21, at Kyobo Bookstore in downtown Seoul on Sunday afternoon. He was caught by the woman’s boyfriend and was handed over to the police at the scene. Kobayashi had his video camera in hand while wandering around crowded areas. When he encountered women in short skirts, he aimed the lens under the women’s skirts, pretending to search for books. He also took footage of the women’s faces, legs and other body parts. Police confiscated some 30 video tapes of women and their private parts taken surreptitiously during the suspect’s time in Korea. Kobayashi entered Korea on Friday and was scheduled to leave Tuesday. He claims to be an office worker in Japan and he told police that the footage was taken out of pure curiosity. About 100 women were in Kobayashi’s video tapes, which were taken mainly in Sinchon, western Seoul and at Kyobo Bookstore, police said. The police suspect Kobayashi of being a professional adult film shooter, based on the quality of his pictures and the excessive number of women photographed. In Japan, pictures taken under women’s dresses are known as “up skirts” and are popular on many Web sites and in the adult film industry. Police are consulting with the Japanese Embassy, but since many adult filmmakers use fake names, any links Kobayashi may have with the adult film industry could not be verified yet, according to the police announcement. Kobayahsi may get up to five years in prison or 10 million won ($10,770) in fines if he is found guilty of breaking the law here. If he had commercial intentions, the time could be extended to seven years and the fine bumped to 30 million won. However, those sentenced to prison usually receive probation. By Lee Chul-jae JoongAng Ilbo [yhwang@joongang.co.kr] |
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