According to Article 383 subparagraph 4 of the Criminal Procedure Act, only a case on which death penalty, imprisonment with or without prison labor for an indefinite term or for not less than ten years has been pronounced, an appeal may be filed on the ground that the judgment of the court below affected the judgment due to a grave mistake of facts or that the amount of the punishment

Therefore, in this case where a more minor sentence was imposed on the defendant, the argument that the court below's fact-finding that the right to a fair trial was infringed without a specific assertion on the grounds of violation of law, etc. of the judgment below, or that there was no purpose to defame the victim is not a legitimate ground for appeal, and the argument that suspended sentence was a legitimate ground for appeal cannot be a legitimate ground for appeal.

In addition, according to the Defendant’s statement of the grounds for appeal, the grounds for appeal shall be invoked by citing facts expressed in the records of trial and the examination of evidence by the lower court, and the reasons for appeal as they are stated in the statement of grounds for appeal shall not be a legitimate ground for appeal (see, e.g., Supreme Court Decisions 95Do2716, Feb. 13, 1996; 2002Do606, Mar. 11, 2004).

Therefore, the appeal is dismissed in accordance with Article 380(2) of the Criminal Procedure Act. It is so decided as per Disposition by the assent of all participating Justices.

April 12, 2018

Justices Ko Young-han

Justices Kwon Soon-il