South Korean teen’s death reignites debate over privacy; shop had spread images of her shoplifting

SEOUL - The death of a high school student in South Korea’s South Chungcheong province after images of her taking ice cream from an unmanned store circulated among local teenagers has triggered a new public debate over privacy.

According to local reports, the 18-year-old, identified as Lee, was found dead at her home in Hongseong on Sept 23, just a few days after the store owner sent images of her stealing to a local tutoring room.

The photos were then shared with students there and quickly circulated among teenagers in the region, soon reaching Lee and her family. She reportedly suffered extreme anxiety after the images were revealed.

She is said to have expressed her frustration in text messages to friends, such as “What do I do … my heart is shaking”, “How can I show my face in Hongseong? How am I supposed to handle these rumours?”.

Her brother said she also confided in him on the night of Sept 22, saying she did not know how to move forward.

Their mother planned to meet the store owner the next day to resolve the matter, but Lee died by suicide the following morning.

The family has filed complaints with the police, accusing the unmanned store owner of violating the Personal Information Protection Act and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization.

The head of the study room who shared the photos is also accused of violating information communication laws.

Lee’s father said his daughter “became the target of ridicule and humiliation because of illegally distributed CCTV images”, adding that she collapsed under “fear and despair”.

It has become common for shops to display images of shoplifters caught on camera, but the case has sparked widespread online debate over whether releasing unblurred security camera images is ever justified.

Many argue that minors committing petty theft should be handled through legal procedures, not public exposure, and that the spread of identifying images constitutes a form of digital mob justice.

At the same time, some small business owners, especially those running

unmanned stores

, which are often targets of theft, say they feel they have no other way to protect their livelihoods.

Several have written online that repeated losses from shoplifting threaten their ability to keep their businesses open, and that “exposure feels like the only deterrent left”.

Legal experts warn that regardless of financial pressures, publishing identifiable images is illegal and can result in defamation or privacy violations.

In a 2022 case, a store owner in Incheon was fined after posting a child’s photo over an alleged theft of Pokemon cards.

“Shoplifting must be addressed through police reports and legal processes,” one expert said. “The public circulation of images, especially of minors, can inflict irreversible harm.”

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the image leak as well as the family’s allegations. THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK