The judgment of the court below is reversed.

A defendant shall be punished by imprisonment for two years.

Summary of Grounds for Appeal

The punishment of the court below (two years of imprisonment) is too unreasonable.

Unlike the provisions of Article 5-4 (5) of the former Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes (amended by Act No. 13717, Jan. 6, 2016) that “A person who has been sentenced not less than three times to imprisonment for a crime under Articles 329 through 331, 333 through 336, 340, and 362 of the Criminal Act, or the attempts thereof, again commits such crime, and is punished as a repeated offense, even if the person again commits such crime, he/she shall be punished by the same sentence.” Article 5-4 (5) of the current Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes provides that “When a person who has been sentenced not less than three times to imprisonment for a crime under Articles 329 through 331, 333 through 336, 340, and 362 of the Criminal Act or the attempts thereof commits such crime again, he/she shall be punished by imprisonment for a repeated offense as follows:

On the other hand, Article 8 of the Criminal Code provides that "the general provisions of this Act shall apply to the crimes provided by other Acts and subordinate statutes, except as provided otherwise by such Acts and subordinate statutes."

As such, Article 5-4(5) of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes is subdivided according to the following classification, and unlike the former Act, the former Act provides that “Aggravated punishment shall be aggravated.” However, considering that Article 35(2) of the Criminal Act applies again to the punishment provided for in Article 5-4(5)1 of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes, which is a repeated crime provided for in the general provisions of the Criminal Act, repeatedly increases the statutory punishment for the same reason, Article 5-4(5)1 of the Act on the Aggravated Punishment, etc. of Specific Crimes is a special case concerning whether a repeated crime provided for in the proviso to Article 8