Supreme Court upholds guilty sentence for operator of Bad Fathers

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The Supreme Court on January 4 answered the question, "Is it appropriate to disclose the personal information of parents who do not pay child support after divorce?" by saying it is not appropriate.

The court affirmed the conviction of Koo Bon-chang, a representative of “People Solving Child Support Problems (formerly known as Bad Fathers),” who disclosed the faces and workplace names of those who did not pay child support.

Since July 2018, Koo, also known as the "Bad Parent Sniper," released personal information such as faces, workplace names, and phone numbers on an Internet site called "Bad Fathers" after receiving reports on parents who did not pay their children's child support after divorce.

The impact was huge. Bad Fathers resolved more than 1,000 child support cases before it was temporarily shut down in October 2021.

The issue of non-payment of child support was brought to the forefront, and the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Securing and Supporting Child Support was amended in July 2021.

The revised enforcement decree discloses six items, including the name, date of birth, occupation, place of work, period of default and amount of debt for child support, and allows measures such as suspension of driver's license and prohibition of departure. However, Koo, who believes that the system is not effective as the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family does not disclose the faces of those who have not paid child support, is currently continuing disclosures of the personal information on a site called "People Solving Child Support Problems.”

As the impact of disclosures has grown, so has the risk. Koo has received numerous death threats and some even took legal action. In May 2019, Koo was eventually charged with defamation under the Information and Communications Network Act.

The first trial, which was held as a public participation trial, found him not guilty. On the other hand, the second trial court found him guilty. However, the court suspended the sentence of 1 million won in fine in consideration of his contribution to establishing the system.

The Supreme Court said, "As a result, it can be said that Koo contributed to the formation of public opinion and public discussion on the issue of non-payment of child support, which is a matter of public interest. However, the main purpose of Bad Fathers is to indirectly force the fulfillment of obligations by damaging personal rights and reputation by disclosing personal information of non-payers of child support to the public." It also added that the fact that a specific person's child support has not been paid is not a matter of public interest, and the degree of damage to victims is significant when detailed personal information such as face photos is disclosed.

"Both the Moon Jae-in and Yoon Suk-yeol administrations pledged a pre-payment system where the government pays child support first and sues non-payers to pay for it later to the country, but they did not fulfill the pledge,” Koo said. "A bill to simplify the implementation process of paying child support has been proposed to the National Assembly, but it is still pending. Politicians are not showing a willingness to resolve the problem."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.