BUSAN • A campaign video disguised as "spycam porn", made by the South Korean police to discourage the circulation of illegal sexual images, was downloaded 26,000 times on the Web over a two-week period.

The video in question shows a woman apparently changing clothes from a high angle, as if it was shot from a camera hidden in the ceiling.

The woman in the video then turns into a "ghost", with an on-screen message reading: "Watching this woman filmed by a spycam, you could be the one driving her to suicide."

The message is followed by another that reads: "Police are monitoring this website."

For each day between Oct 17 and 30, police in the South Korean city of Busan uploaded this video to 23 file-sharing websites where illegal sexual images frequently circulate.

According to an announcement from Busan Police last Wednesday, the video had been downloaded 26,000 times over the two-week period.

Police also said the amount of illegal spycam porn on the file-sharing websites fell by 11 per cent during the same period - a figure possibly showing immediate dividends from the campaign.

The campaign, called "Stop Downloadkill", sought to warn downloaders of the unlawful and damaging nature of the illegal content they may seek out.

"We wanted to let Web users know that spreading and downloading illegal spycam videos online is a serious crime, which drives the victim to immense psychological suffering and even suicidal thoughts," an official from Busan Police told the Yonhap News Agency.

THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK