Police Filmed and Shared Naked Photos of Sex Worker: Court Rules in Favor of Victim

A woman caught in a prostitution crackdown has partially won an appeal in a state compensation lawsuit, claiming her fundamental rights were violated when police officers filmed her naked under the pretext of collecting evidence.

The Seoul Central District Court's Civil Appeals Division 2-2 ruled today (June 16) that the state must pay an additional 300,000 won in damages to the plaintiff, identified as A.

The first trial previously ordered the state to pay A 8 million won.

With this appellate court ruling, the total compensation awarded to A has increased to 8.3 million won.

A had initially filed a lawsuit seeking 50 million won in damages, holding the state accountable for the violation of her human rights and fundamental rights.

In March 2023, police officers filmed A with a mobile phone while she was in a state of nudity during a prostitution crackdown.

Although A demanded that the photos be deleted, the police refused and were found to have shared the photos in a group chat room with 15 members of the crackdown team.

The prosecution, which received the case from the police, also submitted A's naked photos and written statements as evidence in her trial for violating the Act on the Punishment of Arrangement of Commercial Sex Acts.

However, the court deemed the naked photos of A to be illegally obtained evidence and decided to exclude them from the trial.

The first trial court stated, "The police officers opened a closed door and took photos of the defendant's entire body while she was naked," adding, "It cannot be seen that the police officers sought consent for the photography or that the defendant agreed to it."

The court further explained, "Given the circumstances under which the photos were taken and the content of the images, the infringement on the defendant's personality rights is significant," and "It is difficult to view the photography as having been conducted in a manner generally considered reasonable."

The court concluded, "It is appropriate to rule that the evidence lacks admissibility as it was collected illegally," and issued an ex officio decision to exclude the evidence.

Reported by Kim Jiuk | Video by Hong Jin-young | Graphics by Lee Soo-min | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.