Supreme Court Confirms Lower Court Ruling
Defendant Admitted Charges in 1st Trial but Denied in 2nd
Sentence Increased in 2nd Trial
The suspended prison sentence for Kim Min-woong, former professor at Kyung Hee University's Future Civilization Institute, who was prosecuted for publicly sharing a photo of a letter containing the real name of the victim in the sexual violence crime case involving the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on social media (SNS), has been finalized.
According to the legal community on the 15th, the Supreme Court's 3rd Division (Presiding Justice Eom Sang-pil) upheld the original verdict in Kim's appeal trial for violating the Sexual Violence Punishment Act (confidentiality breach), sentencing him to one year in prison with a two-year suspension, ordering 120 hours of community service, and 40 hours of sexual violence treatment lectures.
Professor Kim Min-woong of Kyung Hee University (center). / Photo by Joint Press Corps
The court stated the reason for dismissing Kim's appeal was that "there was no error in the original judgment that violated the rules of logic and experience, exceeded the limits of free evaluation of evidence, or misapplied the legal principles regarding the establishment of the crime of violating the Sexual Violence Punishment Act (confidentiality breach) and justifiable acts, which affected the judgment."
Kim disclosed on his Facebook on December 23, 2020, photos of three letters sent by victim A to former Mayor Park from 2016 to 2018 regarding the sexual violence case. Along with the letters, he posted a secondary victimizing post suggesting that, based on the content of the letters, it was difficult to view A as a victim who was continuously sexually harassed by former Mayor Park.
However, the letters posted by Kim contained A's real name, and Kim exposed it without obscuring it.
Article 24, Paragraph 2 of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act (Prohibition of Disclosure of Victim's Identity and Privacy) states, "No one shall publish or broadcast the address, name, age, occupation, school, appearance, or other personal information or photos that can identify the victim of a sexual violence crime under Paragraph 1 without the victim's consent through newspapers, printed materials, broadcasting under Article 2, Clause 1 of the Broadcasting Act, or information and communication networks."
If violated, Article 50, Paragraph 2, Clause 2 of the same law punishes offenders with "imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won" for disclosing personal information and photos of sexual violence crime victims.
According to facts acknowledged during the trial, Kim held a meeting at a restaurant with acquaintances, including B, who was the secretary-general of former Mayor Park the day before the offense, to discuss future responses ahead of the police and National Human Rights Commission's investigation results on the late former mayor.
At the meeting, B showed the attendees, via his mobile phone, three image files of handwritten letters written by A, which were found while organizing former Mayor Park's belongings, and one image file containing congratulatory phrases written by former Mayor Park for A's younger brother's wedding.
The attendees took turns checking the letter contents on B's phone and discussed whether to disclose A's handwritten letters and the contradictions between A's accusation against former Mayor Park and the letter contents to the police, National Human Rights Commission, and media.
Kim asked B at the meeting to send the image files of A's letters to his phone via Telegram.
The next day, December 23, 2020, at around 2:13 PM, C, who was a secretary to former Mayor Park, posted images of A's handwritten letters on his Facebook with A's real name blurred.
Then, at around 2:27 PM the same day, Kim posted on his Facebook a message saying, "So, how do you read this? This is a letter written by a woman who claimed to have been continuously sexually harassed and bullied for four years. At the bottom is a writing requested by the party for former Mayor Park to write at the wedding of the party's younger brother. Ministers from the ruling party have defined the Park Won-soon related case as a 'power-based sexual crime.' The police announcement is forthcoming. We look forward to the judgment of the citizens," attaching the letter file containing A's real name.
On the morning of March 17, 2021, a seat was prepared for the victim of the late Mayor Park Won-soon's sexual violence case at a press conference titled "Speaking Together with the Victim of the Seoul Mayor's Sexual Violence Case," held at a hotel in Myeong-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul. The victim was scheduled to attend the press conference in person and speak about the case but did not consent to media exposure. Photo by Joint Press Corps
Kim admitted to his offense during the first trial.
On August 1, 2022, the first trial court found Kim guilty, sentencing him to six months in prison with a one-year suspension and ordering 40 hours of sexual violence treatment lectures.
The court stated, "The offense involved posting a post on the defendant's Facebook containing the victim's personal information. Considering the defendant's social status, the spread and impact of the post were expected to be significant. Despite this, the defendant committed the offense recklessly. The victim appealed for severe punishment due to secondary victimization, which was considered an unfavorable factor for the defendant."
However, the court considered favorable factors such as Kim being a first-time offender, confessing, the relatively short posting period before deleting the post, and no evidence of redistribution elsewhere.
Kim appealed the first trial verdict. Unlike the first trial, he completely denied his charges in the second trial. However, this resulted in a harsher sentence.
As grounds for appeal, he claimed his act was not intentional but due to negligence. He said he was unaware that A's real name was on the problematic letter and had no intention to disclose it. To support this, he argued poor eyesight due to left-eye amblyopia and suspected glaucoma in both eyes, making it difficult to focus visually.
He also claimed that he tried to share the letter file posted by former Mayor Park's secretary C on Facebook to his own Facebook, but due to a technical error, the sharing failed. Therefore, he uploaded the letter file saved on his phone, mistakenly believing it was the same file with A's real name blurred as posted by C.
He argued that due to poor eyesight, he failed to notice A's real name on the letter and posted it by mistake. However, the court judged that since Kim's main purpose was to publicly disclose the letters to deny the credibility of victim A's testimony, it was hard to accept that a university professor like Kim posted the letters without reading them.
The court also pointed out, "Typically, letters include the author's name at the beginning or end. Each letter file in this case contains the victim's name four times in the first sentence or at the end. Especially, some letters have the victim's name written a few lines apart within the text (only 1-2 pages each), so anyone viewing these letter files can easily confirm that the victim's name is written in the letters."
Kim also argued that A could not be considered a "victim of sexual violence crime" under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act applied to him. Since former Mayor Park died before investigation or trial of the crime facts, and even considering the acts recognized by the National Human Rights Commission, A could not be regarded as a victim of sexual violence crime.
However, the court did not accept this, citing that the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, which investigated the case, judged former Mayor Park's criminal charges to be valid based on the victim's detailed and consistent testimony, various evidence submitted by the victim, witness statements, KakaoTalk conversations of witnesses, and counseling records from the law firm that counseled the victim. The police prepared documents to request a search warrant for electronic information related to the crime on former Mayor Park's phone, computer, and laptop, but could not apply due to his death. Also, the spouse of former Mayor Park filed a lawsuit against the National Human Rights Commission's recommendation, claiming the acts recognized as sexual harassment were not sexual harassment. The Seoul Administrative Court dismissed the claim, ruling that from the victim's perspective, the acts could be considered sexual harassment causing sexual humiliation or disgust."
Meanwhile, the court rejected Kim's claim that the sentence was too harsh but accepted the prosecution's claim that the sentence was too light, sentencing him to one year in prison with a two-year suspension, heavier than the first trial. Additionally, 120 hours of community service was ordered besides the lecture order from the first trial.
The court explained the sentencing reasons: "The offense involved posting letter files containing the real name of the victim of an ongoing sexual violence crime investigation without the victim's consent on Facebook, which is not a minor offense. The letters with the victim's real name were widely redistributed on multiple internet sites, causing the victim to receive indiscriminate insults and criticism from supporters of the deceased, eventually leading the victim to change her name. The defendant admitted the charges in the first trial but completely denied them in the appeal, claiming that 'the victim is not a victim of sexual violence crime, so secondary victimization cannot be established.' Even until around July 2023, during the ongoing trial, the defendant posted articles about the letter files on Facebook, showing no sincere remorse or self-reflection. The victim is appealing for severe punishment. These are unfavorable factors for the defendant."
The Supreme Court also found no problem with the second trial court's judgment and dismissed Kim's appeal.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
