The prosecutor's appeal is dismissed.

1. According to the evidence submitted by the prosecutor of the gist of the grounds for appeal, the court below acquitted the Defendant of the facts charged in the instant case, notwithstanding the recognition of the intent to commit the Labor Standards Act, since it cannot be deemed that there is considerable reason to dispute the existence of obligation to pay wages

Therefore, the judgment of the court below which acquitted the charged facts of this case is erroneous in the misapprehension of legal principles and affected the judgment.

2. Determination

A. In a case where there are grounds for dispute over the existence of the obligation to pay wages, etc., the employer should be deemed to have a reasonable ground for failing to pay wages. Therefore, it is difficult to acknowledge that the employer had an intention to commit a crime of violating Articles 36 and 109(1) of the Labor Standards Act. Whether there exists any ground for dispute over the existence and scope of the obligation to pay wages, etc. should be determined in light of all the circumstances at the time when the dispute over the existence and scope of the obligation to pay wages, such as the reason for refusal of payment, the ground for the employer’s obligation to pay wages, the organization and size of the company operated by the employer, business purposes, etc., and the existence and scope of the obligation to pay wages, etc. must be determined ex post facto, with the employer’s civil liability for payment, it should not be readily concluded that the employer has committed a violation of Articles 36 and 109(1) of the Labor Standards Act (see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2010Do14693, Oct. 27, 2010.