"Former Operator Fled After Closing" 40s Spreading False Information on Internet Cafe... 5 Million Won Fine

A man in his 40s was fined for defamation after posting false claims on an online cafe that the previous operators of the photo studio he acquired had disappeared. Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Nana Han] A man in his 40s who, dissatisfied with the unexpectedly large number of photo shoot contracts handed over at a photo studio he acquired, publicly disclosed the contact information of previous operators and posted false claims on an internet cafe that they "closed the business and ran away" was fined for defamation.

On the 27th, the Ulsan District Court announced that it sentenced Mr. A, who was tried for violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, to a fine of 5 million won.

In 2019, Mr. A acquired a photo studio in Ulsan and, dissatisfied with the unexpectedly large number of photo shoot contracts handed over by the previous operators, deliberately posted false information on an internet cafe.

Mr. A disclosed the mobile phone contact numbers of the previous representative and manager and posted a message urging people to call them in protest, claiming that "they closed the business and ran away." However, they had never arbitrarily stopped operations or disappeared to avoid fulfilling contracts with customers.

The court stated, "Mr. A was aware that the previous operators did not flee but handed over the photo studio and moved back to their hometown," and added, "It is recognized that he intentionally defamed them."

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