40s Police Officer Fined for Reaccessing Sexual Exploitation Webhard After Investigation Ended

Logged in from residence but "don't remember"... Perjury charge added
Court: "Intruded and damaged another's information network... Appears to have lied to hide the truth"

A police officer in his 40s was fined for logging into the suspect's web hard drive containing sexual exploitation materials using his own phone and even committing perjury after the investigation.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoon Seul-gi] A police officer in his 40s was sentenced to a fine for logging into a suspect's web hard drive containing sexual exploitation materials using his own cellphone even after the investigation had ended, and for perjury during the trial.

On the 18th, the Daejeon District Court Criminal Division 3 (Presiding Judge Oh Myung-hee) announced that it sentenced Mr. A (48), who was indicted for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (Information and Communications Network Infringement, etc.) and perjury, to a fine of 10 million KRW.

Mr. A, who was working in the Women and Youth Division of Sejong Police Station, was brought to trial on charges of logging into the web hard drive owned by suspect Mr. B, who possessed sexual exploitation materials, from his home in November 2020 and viewing sexual exploitation photos and videos. It was confirmed that Mr. B had been arrested in September of the same year on charges including the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes (filming using cameras, etc.) and had been transferred to the prosecution about two months prior.

According to the investigation, Mr. A kept Mr. B’s account logged in even after the transfer and used the auto-upload function to upload his own business card photos and photos related to a death investigation case to Mr. B’s web hard drive.

Additionally, on November 8 of the same year, Mr. A checked files stored at his residence in Cheongju, Chungbuk, related to himself, deleted them, and logged out, but re-logged in about two minutes later.

However, during the trial, Mr. A claimed he had no memory of logging in himself, which led to an additional charge of perjury.

The court stated, "There is sufficient evidence to recognize the intent to intrude and damage another person's information and communications network," and added, "It can only be seen as perjury made out of concern that the fact he accessed the web hard drive from his residence would be revealed."

However, the court explained the sentencing reasoning by saying, "The content of the perjury is not directly related to the key facts of the criminal case against Mr. B," and "It did not affect the trial, and considering that there is no prior criminal record."