A person in his 40s who wrote a comment criticizing a daycare center on Mom Cafe was not indicted.

Daycare center accused of insulting director by uploading mom cafe for ‘contribution money practice’
Prosecutors “Subjective value judgment… public interest cannot be denied”

A parent who was sued for defamation after posting an article criticizing the operation of a daycare center on an Internet mom cafe was cleared of the charges by the prosecution.

The Eastern Branch of the Busan District Prosecutors' Office decided not to indict Mr. A, who was sent on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act (defamation) last October.

Last April, Mr. A posted an article related to childcare center subsidies on the Mom Cafe bulletin board. At the time, the article contained content pointing out the opaque support and subsidy practices of the daycare center management committee. Mr. A is known to have used expressions such as “gaslighting” and “being ripped off” in his writing.

Accordingly, Mr. B, the director of the daycare center, sued Mr. A for defamation. In the case of the subsidy, parents voluntarily raised funds, and there was no request for subsidy from the daycare center. At the same time, Mr. B claimed, “When Mr. A did not receive the video of the daycare event, he was vindictive and posted false information.”

On the other hand, Mr. A denied the charges. Mr. A countered, saying, “I worked as a member of the steering committee for a year and directly experienced that Mr. B was putting psychological pressure on parents by complaining about financial difficulties,” and added, “The purpose of the article in question was to prevent damage to other parents and to urge improvement in the management method.”

The prosecution decided not to indict Mr. A. The prosecution explained, “The overall content of the article posted by the suspect appears to represent a subjective value judgment about the unfairness he experienced while serving as a member of the steering committee for about a year, and it is difficult to view this as a disclosure of specific facts required for defamation.” He also explained, “Like the contents of the suspect’s bathroom, we have taken into account the fact that the public interest cannot be denied.”

Attorney Kim Sang-gu of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, said, “Under the Information and Communications Network Act, the crime of defamation cannot be established simply by using critical expressions, but the purpose of defaming a person must be recognized. Since the client’s main motive was for the public interest of securing transparency in the operation of the daycare center, we were able to obtain a good result by legally demonstrating that the purpose of defamation cannot be recognized even if some private motives were included on the side.” revealed.

Digital News Department

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A man in his 40s who wrote a comment criticizing a daycare center on Mom Cafe ‘not indicted’ (link)