A Man's Dilemma After Discovering His Girlfriend's Past Infidelity: "Should I Break Up?"

Asked my girlfriend, she said we've been dating for half a year
93.6% of netizens advise 'Get a grip and break up'

A story about a man contemplating breaking up with his girlfriend, who had an ongoing affair with his former company team leader, has come to light.

On the 8th, an anonymous office worker community called 'Blind' posted a message titled "(Past) Pretty girlfriend who committed an affair" with the subtitle "Can you understand a partner with a history of infidelity?" The author, Mr. A, said, "While looking through my girlfriend's photo album together, I accidentally saw a captured KakaoTalk conversation with her former team leader. It was before she dated me, but this is the content of the conversation," and shared the messages.

A story about a man contemplating breaking up with his girlfriend, who had an ongoing affair with a former company team leader, has come to light. On the 8th, an anonymous workplace community called "Blind" posted an article titled "Assuming her appearance is totally my style, can I accept a girlfriend with a past affair?" The photo is unrelated to the specific content of the article. [Photo by Pixabay]

In the messages, the male team leader from the girlfriend’s company asked, "How about watching 'The Outlaws 2' in Yongsan?" The girlfriend replied, "Won't we run into people there?" Then the man suggested, "Then shall we go to the Gangseo area?" to which the girlfriend responded, "Yes! Please call me once your wife leaves." Following this, Mr. A said, "My mental state is breaking down. When I confronted my girlfriend, she admitted they had met for half a year. It seems she is not doing that behind my back now," and posted a poll asking whether to break up or not. As of 3 p.m. on the 10th, 2,410 people participated in the poll, with 93.6% voting "Get a grip and break up," while 6.4% voted "I can understand, keep dating."

Netizens who read the story commented, "Cheating is a habit. It never changes," "The shell ages, but the nature never changes until death," "Are you even debating this?" "It's a basic moral issue," and "If there is no trust, there is no reason to continue the relationship." On the other hand, some opinions included, "The past is the past; what matters is right now," and "If you have trust, you can keep dating."

"Be careful, as rumors within the company can easily lead to defamation charges"

In the past five years, defamation cases have been steadily increasing, and recently, courts have consecutively issued guilty verdicts regarding unverified gossip and the spread of false information in the workplace.
[Photo by Getty Images Bank]

In the past five years, defamation cases have steadily increased, and recently, courts have issued guilty verdicts regarding unverified slander and false information spread within workplaces. Above all, if the judgment suggests that the information could be disseminated to many people, defamation charges can be fully established, so caution is required.

According to Supreme Court precedents, in defamation cases, stating facts is contrasted with expressing opinions that involve value judgments or evaluations. Even if the expression cites reports, rumors, or third parties, if the overall context implies the existence of facts, it is considered stating facts. Furthermore, publicity means a state where an unspecified or large number of people can recognize the information. Even if facts are stated to a small number of individuals, if those recipients might spread the facts to an unspecified or large audience, the charge can be recognized.

Meanwhile, defamation crimes have been steadily increasing recently. According to the National Police Agency crime statistics, the number of cases related to "crimes concerning honor" were 27,695 in 2018, 28,885 in 2019, 29,631 in 2020, 30,814 in 2021, and 34,906 in 2022. Additionally, online defamation cases are also on the rise. Violations of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (defamation) numbered 6,641 in 2018, 7,594 in 2019, 9,140 in 2020, 11,354 in 2021, and 12,370 in 2022.