Apartment Cleaner Receives 1 Million Won Fine Confirmed for Resident Sending "Manager, Social Evil" Text

1st Trial "No Possibility of Transmission" Not Guilty → 2nd Trial "Performance Recognized" Fine of 1 Million Won

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] A resident who sent text messages containing derogatory remarks about the building manager to apartment janitors was found guilty of ‘insult’ and fined.

The Supreme Court’s 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Kim Jae-hyung) announced on the 1st that it upheld the lower court’s ruling sentencing Mr. A, who was charged with insult, to a fine of 1 million won.

Mr. A, who lived in an apartment in Chungbuk, sent text messages in April 2019 to apartment janitors and a computer repair technician containing insults about the building manager, Mr. B. In the messages, Mr. A called him “a world-class swindler, a social evil” and “a mouth that only tells lies,” among other derogatory remarks, leading to prosecution.

The trial focused on whether the text messages sent to the janitors and the computer repair technician could be recognized as publicly disseminated or likely to be spread.

The first trial court acquitted Mr. A, denying the possibility that the janitor who received the text messages would spread them, citing insufficient proof of publicity. In response, the prosecution, which had applied the insult charge only to the act of sending messages to the janitor, amended the indictment during the appeal to include sending messages to the computer repair technician and others.

The appellate court overturned the first trial’s decision. The amended indictment added the computer repair technician and others as recipients of the text messages, which the court considered likely to be spread. The appellate court stated, “There is no particularly close relationship between Mr. B and the janitor, nor is there any circumstance to believe that the computer repair technician is so close to the victim as to not disclose the content of the messages to others,” and sentenced Mr. A to a fine of 1 million won.

The Supreme Court also ruled that the appellate court did not err in its legal interpretation regarding the possibility of dissemination and publicity in the insult charge, nor did it omit any judgment that would affect the verdict.