"If You Don't Pay the Fare, Take This Instead"... Taxi Driver Fined 300,000 Won for Seizing Passenger's iPhone

by Lee Seohee

Published 16 Mar.2024 08:00(KST)

Taxi driver Mr. A (71), who was prosecuted for snatching a passenger's cellphone during an altercation with a passenger who did not pay the fare, was sentenced to a fine of 300,000 won.

Photo by Asia Economy DB

The Seoul Southern District Court recently announced on the 16th that it sentenced Mr. A to a fine of 300,000 won for stealing an iPhone that a passenger was holding during a dispute while the passenger was getting off. If the fine is not paid, he will be detained in a labor camp for a period calculated at 100,000 won per day.

On the morning of July 30 last year, at around 6:40 a.m., Mr. A got into an argument with a passenger who did not pay the fare on a street in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, and after the dispute, he stole an iPhone worth approximately 1.4 million won that the passenger was holding.

The court stated the sentencing reasons, saying, "Considering circumstances worthy of consideration regarding the incident's occurrence, the fact that the stolen item was returned to the victim, and that the victim does not wish to punish the defendant," and also took into account "that prior to this incident, the defendant only had one previous conviction for a different fine-type crime."