Busan Defamation Attorney | An Actual Custodial Sentence for the Accused by Assisting a Client Who Was Defamed

The Busan defamation attorney's client was in the following situation.

The client and the accused were residents living in the same neighborhood.

While the Busan defamation attorney's client and the accused were drinking together, a quarrel arose.

The accused, who was drunk, rambled nonsense at the client and even hurled abusive language at the client when the client asked him to stop.

The client then judged that no further conversation was possible, ignored the accused, and headed home.

However, not many days later, the accused filed a complaint based on a false claim that he had been struck in the cheek with a bottle by the client.

The accused also printed false statements on paper and handed out all of those printed materials to neighboring residents, seriously damaging the reputation of the Busan defamation attorney's client.

A Busan defamation attorney will explain the legal principles relevant to the client's case.

For the crime of defamation to be established, there must be a statement of fact, and the stated fact must thereby be specific enough that it may impair the social value or reputation of a particular person. The crime of defamation through printed material under Article 309(2) of the Criminal Act is committed when a person, with the intent to defame another, states a false fact through a newspaper, magazine, radio, or other printed material and thereby harms the reputation of another.

For material to qualify as ‘other printed material’ under Article 309 of the Criminal Act, the basis for the aggravated punishment lies in the fact that, when printed material is used as a means of stating facts, the degree of harm to the victim's legal interests is greater given its inherently high disseminability, credibility, and long-term preservability, through which many people can see and hear it. In light of this, even if it is not a registered and published bound print or production, it must at least be regarded as a printed item that has comparable utility and function and bears the appearance of material capable of being circulated and used in practice as printed material.

Beyond this, the ‘intent to defame a person’ under Article 309(1) and (2) of the Criminal Act requires an intent or purpose to harm. Whether such an intent to defame exists must be determined by considering the various circumstances relating to the expression itself, such as the content and nature of the stated fact, the scope of the recipients to whom the fact was disclosed, and the manner of the expression, while at the same time comparing and weighing the degree of harm to the reputation that is or may be impaired by the expression.

The printed material in the Busan defamation attorney's case is, by its nature, highly disseminable, credible, and capable of long-term preservation so that many people can see and hear it, and therefore the degree of harm to the client's legal interests is greater.

It can also be regarded as a printed item that has such utility and function and bears the appearance of material capable of being circulated and used in practice as printed material. Accordingly, it qualifies as other printed material under Article 309 of the Criminal Act.

Moreover, because most local residents read the printed material and are criticizing the Busan defamation attorney's client, the requirement of ‘publicity’ for establishing defamation in this case is sufficiently met under the disseminability theory.

Although the matter had not yet been verified by an investigative agency or the court, the accused distributed this printed material to the village residents without going through due legal process, which amounts to stating a false fact.

The false fact, which carried a very high likelihood of impairing the client's social value or reputation, was stated with clear specificity. The accused therefore distributed other printed material with the intent to harm and to defame the Busan defamation attorney's client, and by stating a false fact thereby harmed the client's reputation, which constitutes the crime of defamation.