beta
Text
The defendant's appeal is dismissed.
Reasons
1. Summary of grounds for appeal;
A. In this case, misunderstanding of facts and misapprehension of legal principles, all of the contents stated in each printed article distributed by the defendant to the occupants living in an apartment is true, and the defendant stated facts for the public interest of the occupants in an apartment, and thus, it is not unlawful.
Although the court below found the defendant guilty of the facts charged, the court below erred by misunderstanding the facts and misunderstanding the legal principles, which affected the conclusion of the judgment.
B. The sentence of the lower court (an amount of KRW 3,00,000) that is unfair in sentencing is too unreasonable.
2. Determination
A. (1) 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, the determination of whether the facts alleged in the crime of defamation by a statement of false facts is false cannot be viewed as false if the overall purport of the alleged facts differs from the truth in the detailed contents or are somewhat exaggerated expressions in light of the overall purport of the alleged facts. However, if the important parts are not consistent with the objective facts, they should be viewed as false.
B. Whether an actor knows that the matter was false or not by nature can be determined by comprehensively taking into account various objective circumstances, such as the Defendant’s educational background, career, social status, timing of publication, and anticipated ripple effect, based on the content of the published fact, the existence and content of the materials, the source and awareness of the fact that the Defendant revealed, etc. In addition, the intent of the crime includes not only conclusive intention but also so-called dolution intention, which is the intention to recognize the occurrence of the result, and thus, the crime of defamation by publicly alleging false facts is also established (see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2013Do12430, Mar. 13, 2014).