Teenager who defames lecturer, saying, “He looks like a fraud” Prosecution ‘non-indictment’

Prosecutors say, “The suspect’s remarks, a subjective evaluation of the content of the complainant’s class… are not false facts.”

A teenager who was handed over to the prosecution on charges of dissatisfaction with the content of the lecture and committing an insulting act was not indicted.

According to the legal community on the 10th, the Anyang Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office did not indict teenager A, who was sent on charges of defamation and insult last October.

Last year, Mr. A was accused of describing instructor B as a “scammer” and posting a composite photo of Mr. B and politicians in a group chat room where fellow academy students gathered.

Army A denied the charges. He refuted that he was dissatisfied with the content of Mr. B's lecture, so he expressed his thoughts about it. In addition, in the process of expressing such dissatisfaction, he posted a composite photo in the chat room, but emphasized that he had never used expressions that violated the honor of Mr. B, such as swear words.

The prosecution decided not to indict Person A. The prosecution said, "It is difficult to say that the suspect's statement was a false statement as it was a subjective evaluation of the content of the complainant's class that did not meet his expectations. The suspect's fusion of the complainant's face into a specific photo was merely an attempt to express negative emotions in a somewhat humorous way, so it cannot be concluded that it was an insulting expression."

Lawyer Kim Young-joo of Daeryun Law Firm, who represented Mr. A, said, "Statement of facts for defamation means a report or statement about specific past or present facts, not a value judgment or evaluation," and added, "We were able to obtain a non-indictment by emphasizing that there were no specific expressions in Mr. A's remarks that were likely to infringe on Mr. B's social value or evaluation."

Reporter Seohyun Lee sunshine@kyeonggi.com

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The teenager who defamed the instructor who said, “He looks like a fraudster”… Prosecutor’s Office ‘Non-indictment’ (Shortcut)