A woman in her 40s, who received a fine for posting malicious comments about singer and actress IU, has been given an additional fine for similar accusations.
According to the legal community on the 5th, Judge Lim Jung-bin of the Seoul Central District Court’s Criminal Division 20 sentenced Ms. Kim (40), who was charged with insult, to a fine of 3 million won.
Ms. Kim was indicted for posting comments with sexual expressions along with content such as "Did you bribe the judge?" on a news bulletin board of a portal site related to IU's agency in February last year.
During the trial, Ms. Kim's side argued that there was no evidence she wrote the comments, that the victim was not specifically identified, and that the content did not degrade the victim's social evaluation, thus not constituting insult.
However, the court concluded, "The defendant wrote the comments referring to the victim. This can be seen as content that could degrade the social evaluation of the victim’s personal value, thus acknowledging the fact of insult."
It was also noted that she denied the crime, showed no remorse, had not received forgiveness from the victim, and had a prior criminal record for similar offenses. However, it explained the sentencing rationale by stating, "This crime was committed before charges were brought regarding the insult for which she was fined in December last year, and there is no prior criminal record exceeding the fine. "
Meanwhile, Ms. Kim was previously prosecuted for posting four malicious comments about IU in December last year and was sentenced to a fine of 3 million won. During the trial at that time, she pleaded for leniency by stating, "I suffer from mental illness, so my writing ability is lacking."
[Photo] OSEN DB
[OSEN]