No Guilty Verdict for Operators of 'Bad Fathers,' the Child Support Nonpayment Parent Disclosure Site

On the 15th, the 11th Criminal Division of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Lee Chang-yeol) acquitted the Bad Fathers website, a site that publicly discloses the identities of parents who fail to pay child support. Photo by Bad Fathers homepage screen capture

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Seulgi Kim] The court acquitted the operators of the internet site "Bad Fathers," which publicly discloses the identities of parents who do not pay child support.

On the 15th, the Criminal Division 11 of Suwon District Court (Chief Judge Chang-Yeol Lee) acquitted Bonchang Koo (56) and others, who were indicted for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (defamation).

However, whistleblower A (33), who was also indicted, was fined 500,000 KRW for posting insults along with his wife's personal information on social media.

The trial, held as a citizen participation trial, resulted in a unanimous not guilty verdict from all seven jurors.

The court stated, "There was no insulting expression such as belittling or malicious attacks while Bad Fathers disclosed the personal information of parents," and judged that "the victims themselves also contributed to defamation as the issue of unpaid child support became a matter of public interest."

It also said, "The defendants disclosed the parents' personal information on the site to raise awareness and urge payment regarding the suffering caused by unpaid child support, so their motives and purposes align with the public interest, and even if there were some private motives, it is difficult to see it as having the intent to defame."

On the other hand, the court found A guilty for posting his wife's personal information and insults on Instagram.

The court ruled, "Posting insults about the victim along with the site link on personal social media appears to have induced users to check the victim's personal information," and added, "Even if the victim did not pay child support, posting insults on social media is not considered necessary for the greater good."

Earlier, the jury unanimously decided on a guilty verdict and a fine of 500,000 KRW after over two hours of deliberation on this matter, which the court accepted.

The trial on this day lasted nearly 16 hours from 9:30 a.m. the previous day. Initially, the Suwon District Prosecutor's Office filed a summary indictment with a fine of 3 million KRW for this case, but the court held a citizen participation trial ex officio, stating that "it is necessary to carefully examine the circumstances."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.