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The defendant's appeal is dismissed.
Reasons
1. The summary of the grounds for appeal is as follows: (a) the Defendant distributed printed matter stating that “A victim C, an employee of the branch office of the Chang-gun branch of the D Bank, forged loan documents, etc. and embezzled KRW 3,134,910 by embezzlement of KRW 3,134,910” as indicated in the facts charged in the instant case; (b) or conducted a demonstration by citing a ticket stating the above contents; (c) the Defendant embezzled KRW 3,134,910 from the Defendant by forging the loan documents, etc.
Nevertheless, the facts alleged by the defendant constitute false facts, and the defendant was aware of them.
In light of the facts charged in this case, the court below erred by misapprehending the facts.
2. Determination
A. In determining whether the facts alleged in the crime of defamation by a statement of false facts under Article 307(2) of the Criminal Act are false, if the specific contents differ significantly from the truth or are somewhat exaggerated to the extent that the whole purport of the alleged facts is different from the truth in light of the overall purport of the facts, it shall not be deemed false. However, if the important parts are inconsistent with the objective facts, it shall be deemed false.
B. In light of its nature, it is difficult to determine whether an actor perceived that the matter was false or not, by taking account of its nature, by taking into account various objective circumstances such as the Defendant’s educational background, career, social status, details of publication, timing of publication, and anticipated ripple effects arising therefrom, based on the contents of the published fact, the existence and content of the explanatory material, the source and awareness of the fact expressed by the Defendant, etc. In addition, the intent of the crime includes not only the conclusive intention but also the so-called negligent intention, which is the intention to recognize it as to the occurrence of the result, and thus, the crime of defamation by a statement of false facts also constitutes a crime of defamation by a false fact (Supreme Court Decision 20