Video of woman catching peeping-tom goes viral

This video shared on social media shows a woman catching a man who secretly filmed bodies of women inside a bathroom at a jimjilbang in eastern Seoul. (Instagram)

South Korean police confirmed Tuesday they are investigating a man who was caught secretly filming women inside a bathroom, after a video of the incident went viral online.

According to police, the male suspect in his 20s is believed to have snuck into the women’s bathroom room at a "jimjilbang" -- a Korean-style bathhouse with saunas, massage tables and unisex areas with heated floors -- in Gwangjin-gu, eastern Seoul last Monday with the intent to film women's bodies. He was caught by a female guest of the jimjilbang, who grew suspicious when she caught a glimpse of a phone appearing over the top of a bathroom stall.

In an attempt to lure him out, she pretended to exit the bathroom and waited for the suspect to come out of the stall. In the video uploaded to social media accounts, she is seen then grabbing the man by his collar and asking him, "Why are you coming out of (the stall)? You (expletive), get over here" while dragging him outside.

The woman held onto the suspect, who was still holding his phone, until the police arrived. The suspect initially denied the accusation but later admitted his crime to the police.

The person who caught the suspect was revealed to be a YouTuber who posted the video of the incident on her channel last week. The YouTube video garnered 2.37 million views as of Tuesday, in addition to over four million views on other social media sites.

She said that she has no plans to settle with the suspect.

South Korea's Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes stipulates in Article 14 that a person who takes photographs or videos of another person's body without consent which "may cause any sexual stimulus or shame" of the person filmed can be punished by up to seven years in prison or a 50 million won ($37,500) in fine.

By Yoon Min-sik(minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)