The judgment below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Gwangju High Court.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

1. The Constitution guarantees all citizens’ freedom of expression as a fundamental right.

In order to freely form and express opinions on the premise of freedom of expression, an individual must have access to the information and be able to know it. Thus, the right to know should be recognized, and the content of the right to know includes the right to access the information held and managed by a public institution.

Article 3 of the Official Information Disclosure Act (hereinafter “Information Disclosure Act”) declares the principle of information disclosure that information held and managed by public institutions should be actively disclosed under the conditions as prescribed by this Act. Article 5(1) provides that all citizens shall have the right to request information disclosure, and Article 6 provides that public institutions shall enforce this Act, modify relevant Acts and subordinate statutes, and improve information management systems so that the people’s rights to request information disclosure can be respected.

Considering the legislative purpose, regulatory content, etc. of the Information Disclosure Act, the citizen's claim for information disclosure should be widely permitted unless it falls under the information subject to non-disclosure under Article 9 of the Information Disclosure Act.

On the other hand, since all rights are faithfully exercised in accordance with the principle of trust and good faith, the exercise of such rights is prohibited if they are abused against the principle of trust and good faith, and the same applies to requests for information disclosure.

Therefore, the purpose of the information disclosure system is to obtain unfair benefits that cannot be accepted by social norms without any intention to acquire or utilize the relevant information, or to attract public officials in charge of public institutions.