Husband Threatened Victim After Wife, a School Staff Member, Faced Fine... Suspended Prison Sentence Given

"Obstructing the Exercise of State Penal Authority"

A husband who threatened a teacher at the same school after his wife, a faculty member, filed a defamation lawsuit against her was sentenced to a prison term with a suspended sentence.

On the 26th, the 13th Criminal Division of the Daejeon District Court (Presiding Judge Jang Min-gyeong) sentenced Mr. A, the husband of a faculty member at a high school in Daejeon, to 8 months in prison with a 1-year suspension for violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (retaliatory threats, etc.) and trespassing.

The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

Mr. A was tried on charges of threatening the victim (a fellow teacher) after visiting the school where his wife works on the afternoon of May 9, 2023.

Previously, Mr. A’s wife, who was a counseling teacher, had publicized allegations of sexual harassment by the victim within the school around 2022. Following this, disputes arose between the two, and eventually, the victim filed a defamation lawsuit against Mr. A’s wife. The victim requested a summary order for a fine of 500,000 KRW from the court, and upon learning this, Mr. A allegedly visited the school that day to ask the victim to withdraw the lawsuit, according to the prosecution.

When the victim, whom he met in the school hallway, refused to talk, Mr. A engaged in an argument and threatened, saying he would write the sexual harassment allegations on a placard and publicize them.

However, the victim’s sexual harassment allegations had already been dismissed by investigative authorities.

Mr. A also committed trespassing by entering the school without going through the proper authorization process, directly entering the premises in a vehicle registered under his wife’s name. Mr. A’s defense argued that there was no intent to trespass, that he did not make the alleged statements, and that he did not intend to have the lawsuit withdrawn.

However, the court recognized the threats against the victim, the trespassing, and the intent to have the lawsuit withdrawn. The court stated, “Considering the threat to publicize the sexual harassment allegations on a placard, the defendant’s act of trespassing cannot be regarded as a lawful act, and had the school known in advance, it would not have allowed entry.”

The court added, “Such retaliatory crimes not only infringe on the personal legal rights of the victim but ultimately obstruct the investigative and judicial authorities’ discovery of substantive truth and the exercise of the state’s penal power, thus requiring severe punishment. However, considering that the degree of disturbance was not severe, the victim’s sense of fear was relatively low, and that the defendant is a first-time offender with no prior criminal record,” it explained the sentencing rationale.

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