The prosecutor's appeal is dismissed.

1. According to the summary of the grounds for appeal (the factual errors or misapprehension of the legal principle) and the evidence submitted by the prosecutor, it is recognized that the defendant committed a coercive act to prevent children from leaving the classroom as shown in each of the facts charged in the instant case, and this constitutes emotional abuse that may harm the mental health and development of children, but the judgment of the court below which judged otherwise and found the defendant not guilty of all of the facts charged in the instant case is unreasonable.

2. Determination

A. “Cmotional abuse which may injure the mental health and development of a child” under Article 17 subparag. 5 of the Child Welfare Act refers to an act of emotional abuse or physical force not accompanied by the exercise of tangible force, but does not reach physical damage and an act of emotional abuse. This includes not only cases where it actually undermines the mental health and normal development of a child, but also cases where there is a risk or possibility of causing such a result.

(See Supreme Court Decision 2015Do13488 Decided December 23, 2015, supra). In full view of the legislative structure, etc. of the Child Welfare Act, which provides that physical and emotional abuse, abandonment and neglect shall be punished by the same statutory penalty, “ emotional abuse that may cause harm to the mental health and development of a child” means “an act of emotional abuse that may cause harm to the mental health and development of a child,” and “an act that may cause harm to the mental health and development of a child, or cause considerable danger to it, to the extent that the child’s attitude and attitude of his/her mind and attitude, which the child considers is maintaining and growing normally, or to the extent that the child’s abandonment or neglect is identical.

This interpretation may be somewhat abstract and wide range, but it is intended to realize the purpose of legislation of the whole Child Welfare Act to guarantee the health, happiness, safety and welfare of children by protecting children from various forms of emotional abuse.