The prosecutor's appeal is dismissed.

1. In light of the circumstances surrounding the defendant's participation in the assembly or on-site situation, the court below's decision that held otherwise erred by misunderstanding the facts and misunderstanding the legal principles, although the defendant could be acknowledged that he acted in collusion with other participants in the assembly.

2. Determination

A. In light of Article 6(1) of the Assembly and Demonstration Act and the legislative purport thereof, in a case where an assembly or demonstration is conducted on the road after completing lawful reports, the traffic of the road is limited to a certain degree. Thus, in a case where the assembly or demonstration is conducted within the reported scope or is conducted differently from the reported contents, the traffic of the road is obstructed thereby.

Even if there are no special circumstances, it cannot be deemed that a crime of interference with general traffic under Article 185 of the Criminal Act is established.

However, in a case where the assembly or demonstration considerably deviates from the scope of the original report, or interferes with road traffic by seriously violating the conditions under Article 12 of the Assembly and Demonstration Act, making it impossible or considerably difficult to pass through by interfering with the assembly or demonstration, such assembly or demonstration constitutes a crime of interference with general traffic (see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2006Do755, Nov. 13, 2008). In such a case, participating in an assembly or demonstration, which makes it impossible or considerably difficult to pass by interfering with road traffic by significantly deviating from the scope of the initial report, or seriously violating the conditions under Article 12 of the Assembly and Demonstration Act.

As a matter of course, all such participants cannot be deemed to have interference with general traffic, and in fact, those participants engaged in a direct act causing interference with traffic by participating in a significant deviation from the reported scope or a serious violation of the said conditions, or otherwise, in light of the developments leading up to the participation or the degree of involvement of the participants.