Employee filmed colleague's KakaoTalk messages, then shared them
Court hands down suspended fine
A worker who filmed a colleague's KakaoTalk messages revealing an extramarital affair on a shared office computer and circulated the footage has received a suspended fine after being charged with defamation and related offenses.
Judge Kim Ju-hyeon of the Chungju Branch of Cheongju District Court said Sunday that the defendant, identified only as A, received a suspended sentence of a 1 million won ($747) fine on charges of violating the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection and defamation.
A suspended sentence means that for minor offenses, the imposition of a sentence is deferred for a set period, after which the case is treated as dismissed if no further offense is committed.
According to the court, A, who works at a child welfare facility, was using a shared computer in June 2024 when she noticed that a colleague's KakaoTalk account was still logged in. She opened the chat history, read through the messages and recorded them on video, accessing the communications network without proper authorization.
A also sent the footage to a coworker and disclosed the colleague's affair, spreading the information in a way that damaged the colleague's reputation.
During the trial, A denied the charges, saying she had merely stumbled upon a personal KakaoTalk chat room that had not been logged out, that she had no criminal intent, and that her actions were justified as a response to a colleague's misconduct.
On the defamation charge, A also argued that her actions were lawful because they served the public interest of maintaining a healthy work environment and protecting children at the facility.
The court rejected both arguments, noting that A had deliberately opened the chat window, scrolled through its contents, gone beyond simply reading the messages by recording them on video, and then shown the footage to a colleague.
"The KakaoTalk messages constitute the victim's intimate private life," the court said. "It cannot be stated with certainty that the contents affected the victim's work performance or childcare duties, and there is no evidence to support such a conclusion."
On the defamation charge, the court acknowledged that A had spoken directly to only one colleague but noted that the colleague had passed the information on to others, ultimately reaching a significant number of people. "It is reasonable to conclude that the defendant recognized the possibility of the information spreading and accepted that outcome, and therefore the element of public dissemination is established," the court said.
Judge Kim said A had never reported the colleague to the head of the institution or a relevant association, and that there was no evidence the colleague had left the job due to neglect of duties stemming from the inappropriate conduct. "Taking these factors together, the actions cannot be viewed as serving the public interest of members of the child welfare facility," the judge said.
In explaining the decision to suspend the sentence, the judge added that A had reflected on her invasion of the colleague's privacy, had no criminal record since receiving a fine 15 years ago, and that the circumstances surrounding the offense had been taken into account.
yjsung@heraldcorp.com
