Exclusive: Man arrested for secretly filming women at Times Square Seoul mall

A man suspected of secretly filming women at Times Square, a shopping complex in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, was arrested after a bystander reported him to police.

The Yeongdeungpo Police Station booked the man, identified only as a suspect in his 40s, on Friday on charges of violating the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes — specifically the provision on filming using cameras and similar devices — and has launched an investigation.

According to police, the suspect allegedly filmed parts of a woman's body on the restaurant floor of the mall's second basement level at around 8 p.m. Thursday. A diner at a nearby table witnessed the man holding his phone pointed toward a woman's lower body as if recording, immediately intervened and called police.

The witness said in a phone interview that the suspect appeared to be trying to film a woman seated in front of him. "I shouted, 'What do you think you're doing?' and grabbed his hand," the witness said. "He said, 'I wasn't filming anything,' and asked me to check his phone."

The suspect voluntarily accompanied officers to the police station, where he admitted to the charges during questioning and handed over his phone. Multiple photos of body parts of unidentified women were found on the device, according to police.

Police plan to conduct digital forensic analysis to determine whether additional illegal filming took place and whether any of the material was distributed.