By Jung Min-ho
An increasing number of teenagers break the law by taking photos or recording videos of naked people using concealed cameras, police said Thursday.
According to the National Police Agency, the number such crimes by people aged from 14 to 19 spiked from 87 in 2011 to 313 last year.
Last year, people in this age group accounted for 10.7 percent of the total crimes involving such cameras.
Unlike such incidents involving people in other age groups, most teenagers’ crimes occur between friends or acquaintances rather than strangers, police said.
“Their crimes are usually detected while they show footage taken with hidden cameras to their friends,” said a police officer at the agency.
Last month, a high school student in Gochang, North Jeolla Province, was transferred to another school after it was found that he took photographs under the skirts of five female teachers with a mobile phone and downloaded them to share with his friends. He is also under police investigation.
Police said, 18.2 percent of all such crimes last year occurred on streets, followed by subways or bus stations (15.6 percent) and inside subway trains (8.4 percent).
“We will deploy more resources to the team in charge of teenage crime and strengthen education for students in order to prevent such crimes,” a police officer said.