Acquittal of the accused shall be acquitted.

1. A summary of the facts charged that, around September 10, 1995, the Defendant stated that “4,400,000 won shall be brought to Korea within 20 days from the week and shall be brought to Korea and shall be brought to work by naturalization to the workplace” from the victim’s non-permanent office near the Seoul Metropolitan Government Office, and received KRW 4,400,000 on September 16, 1995 from the victim.

2. Determination

A. Article 347(1) of the former Criminal Act (amended by Act No. 5057 of Dec. 29, 1995) provides that the applicable provisions to the facts charged in this case in question shall be applicable mutatis mutandis, and the statutory penalty shall be imprisonment with prison labor for not more than 10 years or a fine not exceeding 50,000,000 won. Thus, the statute of limitations for such statute of limitations shall be seven years pursuant to Article 249(1)3 of the former Criminal Procedure Act (amended by Act No. 8730 of Dec. 21, 2007).

On September 16, 1995, the fraudulent criminal act as stated in the instant facts charged was terminated. The instant public prosecution was instituted on September 23, 2014 after about 19 years thereafter.

However, Article 253(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act provides that "the statute of limitations shall be suspended when a criminal suspect stays abroad for the purpose of escaping criminal punishment." According to the records of this case, the fact that the defendant left Korea on September 20, 1998 and entered Korea on July 22, 2014 is recognized.

Ultimately, whether the statute of limitations can be judged to have been suspended during the period of stay abroad for the purpose of escaping criminal punishment or not is a preliminary issue in this case.

B. Article 253(3) of the Criminal Procedure Act requires that “the purpose of escaping criminal punishment” exists in order to suspend the statute of limitations. In this context, “the purpose of escaping criminal punishment” is not limited to the sole purpose of staying in a foreign country, but is included in the purpose of staying in several foreign countries, and is sufficient, and if the offender’s staying in a foreign country was a tool to escape criminal punishment, it shall be subject to criminal punishment.