Can sexual intercourse while hiding the fact of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease constitute a crime?

There are increasing cases of people knowing that they have a sexually transmitted disease but hiding it and transmitting it to others. Recently, an active player in a domestic professional soccer league passed a sexually transmitted disease to a woman and was handed over to the prosecution. In this way, if you are aware of the disease and have sexual intercourse and infect your partner, you can be punished by law.

In cases of sexually transmitted disease infection, a crime of injury or manslaughter may be applied. In general, it is easy to think of bodily harm as inflicting physical damage by inflicting violence on another person, but the crime of bodily harm can also be applied if you intentionally cause physical or mental pain to another person.

Looking at the Supreme Court's precedents, an injury is one that damages the integrity of the victim's body or causes impairment in physiological functions, and does not necessarily have to be accompanied by external injuries. Therefore, if you spread the disease by hiding the fact that you were infected with a sexually transmitted disease, you can be sued by the other person.

The key here is ‘intentionality’. If you have sexual intercourse even after knowing that you have a sexually transmitted disease, you will be charged with bodily harm, and if you contracted the infection without knowing it, you will be charged with manslaughter. All of these crimes carry heavy punishment if found guilty. Article 257 of the Criminal Act states that a person who causes physical injury to another person shall be subject to imprisonment for up to 7 years, suspension of qualifications for up to 10 years, or a fine of up to 10 million won. Article 266 of the same Act stipulates that a person who causes physical injury to a person due to negligence shall be subject to a fine of up to 5 million won, detention, or minor fine.

However, in cases of sexually transmitted disease infection, it is difficult to prove and rarely leads to punishment. This is because it is not difficult to prove that you were infected by someone else. It can be accepted as evidence only when it is proven that the person was aware of the infection and the causal relationship that the person was infected through sexual intercourse with the other person.

For example, there was a case where a man hid the fact that he was infected with herpes type 2, causing damage to his romantic partner. As a result of continuing sexual intercourse without informing the victim that he or she was infected with a virus that is transmitted through sexual contact, the victim suffered permanent damage that requires lifelong care. At this time, the victim, who received assistance from a lawyer, proved the damage through valid evidence such as conversation history and medical records. In addition to criminal punishment, he also received financial compensation through civil compensation for damages.

Conversely, there are also cases where people are wrongfully accused. There are times when a person is accused by the other person and is framed as a perpetrator, but if you claim to have suffered damage even though you were infected by someone else, you have no choice but to be sued. In this case, it is necessary to get the help of experts from the beginning of the case and quickly clear the charges.

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