Elementary School Teacher Who Produced Thousands of 'Child Sexual Exploitation Materials'... Supreme Court Orders Retrial in Second Instance

First Trial: 15 Years Imprisonment · Second Trial: 18 Years Imprisonment Sentenced
Supreme Court: "Punishment Must Be Based on Law at Time of Crime"

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Kyung-jun] The Supreme Court has ruled that even if a law amendment made certain crimes subject to cumulative offense punishment (where multiple criminal acts constitute a single crime), the previous regulations must be applied if the criminal acts occurred before the amendment.

This ruling is the first to clarify that individual criminal acts without habitual offender punishment provisions and criminal acts committed after the introduction of such provisions are not in a cumulative offense relationship as habitual crimes, but rather constitute a relationship of substantive concurrence (where multiple crimes are simultaneously applied to sentencing).

The Supreme Court's First Division (Presiding Justice Park Jeong-hwa) announced on the 24th that it overturned the original ruling which permitted a change in the indictment and sentenced elementary school teacher A (37) to 18 years in prison on charges of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse (habitual production and distribution of child and youth sexual exploitation materials), and remanded the case to the Suwon High Court.

A was prosecuted for habitually causing 124 child and youth victims to expose all or part of their bodies from 2015 to 2021, producing a total of 1,929 child and youth sexual exploitation photos and videos.

At the time of the initial indictment, the prosecution specified the crime period as November 3, 2020, to February 10, 2021, with 3 victims and 19 sexual exploitation materials created by A. Based on this indictment, the first trial sentenced A to 15 years in prison.

During the second trial, the prosecution applied for a change in the indictment citing additional charges, extending the crime period back five years to February 28, 2015, increasing the number of victims to 121, and the sexual exploitation materials to a total of 1,910. The second trial court accepted the change in indictment, overturned the first trial ruling, and sentenced A to 18 years in prison.

However, the Supreme Court's judgment differed. It found that the prosecution included crimes committed before the law amendment under the 'habitual production of sexual exploitation materials' charge during the second trial. The Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse was amended on June 2, 2020 (effective from the date of promulgation), introducing habitual offender punishment provisions for habitual production of sexual exploitation materials.

The Supreme Court stated, "Only offenses violating the Juvenile Sexual Protection Act based on the law at the time of the criminal acts can be punished," and ruled, "A change in indictment adding parts before the amendment cannot be permitted and can only be subject to additional prosecution."