'Guilty' Childcare Facility Worker Secretly Recording Colleague Conversations Suspected of Child Abuse

Daejeon High Court Dismisses Appeal... 8 Months Imprisonment, 2 Years Probation
Victim Claims "Recorded Out of Grudge Over Union Withdrawal"

An employee of a child protection facility who secretly recorded conversations suspecting a colleague of child abuse was found guilty again in the second trial following the first trial.

The Daejeon High Court Criminal Division 3 (Chief Judge Kim Byung-sik) dismissed the appeal of a woman in her 20s, A, who was charged with violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act, and sentenced her to 8 months in prison with a 2-year probation, according to Yonhap News on the 7th. The court also ordered a one-year suspension of her qualifications.

Daejeon High Court. Photo by Daejeon High Court Official Website Capture

A, who worked at a child protection facility in Asan, Chungnam, was put on trial for secretly recording private conversations of her colleagues by turning on the recording function of her mobile phone and placing it in her bag from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on July 9 last year. During the trial, she claimed that she recorded the conversations to verify suspected child abuse by one employee. On the other hand, the victims of the illegal recording petitioned for severe punishment against A, arguing that she committed the crime out of resentment after the employees quit the labor union, of which A was a member.

Article 14, Paragraph 1 of the Protection of Communications Secrets Act stipulates that "No one shall record conversations between others that are not publicly disclosed." Therefore, it is illegal to record conversations without the consent of others if the recorder is not a participant in the conversation. In such cases, under Article 15 of the same law, one may be sentenced to imprisonment for not less than one year and not more than ten years and have their qualifications suspended for up to five years. If the recorder, who did not participate in the conversation, distributes the recorded content without the consent of the participants, they can be punished under Article 16 of the same law. The court pointed out that A was fully aware that recording conversations of others that were not publicly disclosed was illegal, as she had previously made an illegal recording at the facility.

The appellate court explained the reason for dismissing the appeal, stating, "It is difficult to find objective evidence or circumstances that would justify suspicion of child abuse to the extent that it motivated the recording act, so it is hard to consider that there was a motive for the crime that would mitigate the sentence. Since the sentencing in the original trial was made within a reasonable range of discretion, the defendant's claim that the sentence is too heavy cannot be accepted."

Meanwhile, there was also a case where a woman in her 40s who secretly recorded her colleagues arguing over work assignments and delivered the recording to a supervisor was sentenced to imprisonment. On April 28, the Ulsan District Court Criminal Division 12 (Chief Judge Kim Jong-hyuk) sentenced B, a woman in her 40s charged with violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act, to 6 months in prison with a 2-year probation and a one-year suspension of qualifications.

B, who worked as a nurse at a hospital in Ulsan, secretly recorded a dispute among senior and fellow nurses at the reception desk over who was responsible for flu vaccination duties using her mobile phone last October and sent it to the head nurse. As a result, the head nurse became aware of the conversation among the nurses, putting some employees in difficult situations. The court pointed out, "Secretly recording and leaking others' conversations is a crime that infringes on the constitutional fundamental rights of privacy and freedom, and the nature of the crime is not light."