A. The public prosecution of this case was instituted after the lapse of seven years from October 5, 200, which was the date of crime, and the defendant had been abroad to normalize business by operating a factory in China, and did not have been abroad to escape criminal punishment. Thus, the statute of limitations for the crime of breach of trust of this case has already expired.

B. The lower court’s sentence of unreasonable sentencing (ten months of imprisonment) is too unreasonable.

2. Determination

A. Determination on the assertion of misapprehension of legal principles 1) As the statutory penalty for breach of trust is stipulated as imprisonment for not more than five years or a fine not exceeding KRW 15 million (Article 35(2) and (1) of the Criminal Act, the statute of limitations is five years pursuant to Article 249(1)4 of the former Criminal Procedure Act (amended by Act No. 8730, Dec. 21, 2007). Article 253(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act provides that “Where a criminal is located abroad to escape criminal punishment, the statute of limitations shall be suspended during that period.”

The legislative purpose of the above provision is to properly realize the penal authority by preventing the statute of limitations from proceeding during the period of stay in a foreign country where the offender stays in a foreign country where the jurisdiction of the Republic of Korea substantially falls short of the jurisdiction of the Republic of Korea.

Therefore, if "the purpose of escaping criminal punishment" prescribed by the above provision is not limited to only the sole purpose of stay in a foreign country, but also included in several overseas staying purposes of the offender, and if the offender's stay in a foreign country was a tool to escape criminal punishment, it can be deemed that there was "the purpose of escaping criminal punishment" unless there are any special circumstances during the period of stay in a foreign country, and unless there is any objective circumstance that clearly expresses the subjective intent of the offender that is incompatible with the above "the purpose of escaping criminal punishment", "the purpose of escaping criminal punishment" continues.