'20-Year-Old Exam Student Fined for Sending Abusive KakaoTalk Messages and Defamation to Entrance Exam Academy Instructor'

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] A woman in her 20s who was prosecuted for repeatedly sending abusive messages to a famous private academy instructor and defaming him online was sentenced to a fine.

On the 28th, according to the legal community, Judge Kim Taekyun of the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Division 16 recently sentenced A (27, female), who was indicted for violating the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation), to a fine of 4 million won.

A was prosecuted on charges of repeatedly sending KakaoTalk messages that induced fear or anxiety a total of 45 times over about a year from January 23, 2018, to a private academy instructor B in Gangnam, Seoul, while residing in a goshiwon in Noryangjin, Dongjak-gu, Seoul.

The messages she sent mostly contained abusive language and baseless defamatory content such as, "In reality, they are all inferior XXs, but isn’t the private education market about making money by exploiting examinees’ anxiety with inflammatory posts on the internet?" and "The school record screening is a damn trash type of screening, those XXs who got in through that screening will be punished," "There are corrupt students under a corrupt instructor," etc.

In June 2019, A is also accused of defaming B by spreading false information that B had sexual relations with a certain student in a KakaoTalk open chat room called 'CSAT Question Room,' which many of B’s academy students participated in. It was investigated that A had attended B’s lectures for two months from April 2017.

The court stated, "Considering the nature, method, and frequency of the crimes in this case, the criminality and circumstances are not light, and the victim is believed to have suffered considerable mental shock and pain," and criticized, "The defendant has still not been forgiven by the victim."

However, the court added, "Taking into account several mitigating factors and sentencing conditions, such as the defendant apparently committing the crimes somewhat impulsively and being a first-time offender with no prior criminal record, the sentence was determined."

Meanwhile, A has appealed against this ruling.

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