The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Seoul Northern District Court Panel Division.

The grounds of appeal are examined.

1. “Purpose of slandering a person” under Article 70(1) of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, Etc. is to require a person’s intent or purpose, and the determination of whether a person is intended to defame a person ought to take into account all the circumstances concerning the expression itself, such as the content and nature of the relevant statement, the scope of the counter-party against which the relevant fact was published, the method of expression, etc., and the degree of infringement of honor that may be damaged or damaged by the expression,

In addition, since the purpose of slandering is in conflict with that for the public interest in the direction of the actor's subjective intention, it is denied the purpose of slandering if the alleged facts are about the public interest, unless there are special circumstances.

Matters concerning public interest include those concerning public interest, as well as those concerning the interest of many general public, and those concerning the interest and interest of a particular social group or a whole of its members.

(2) In order to determine whether the publicly alleged facts relate to the public interest, whether the expression constitutes a pure private area or not, whether the victim made the risk of defamation, the nature and degree of infringement of reputation damaged by the expression, and the method and motive of such expression, etc. In addition, if the principal motive or purpose of the actor is for the benefit of the public, it shall be determined in consideration of the following: (a) whether the publicly alleged facts relate to the public interest of the public objectively known to the public; and (b) whether the expression concerns the formation or public debate of the society; (c) whether the expression constitutes a pure private area or not; (d) whether the victim made the risk of defamation; and (e) whether the expression was the victim’s nature and degree of infringement of reputation damaged by the expression; and (e) if the principal motive or purpose of the actor is for the benefit of the public interest, other private interest purposes or motive are included therein.