Supreme Court rules obscene messages to child as sexual abuse, even if unread

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that acquitted a defendant for sending obscene messages to a child and returned the case to the Daejeon District Court.

The Supreme Court building in southern Seoul [NEWS1]

Sending obscene messages to a child can constitute sexual abuse under Korean law even if the child does not read the messages, the Supreme Court ruled.

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that acquitted a defendant and returned the case to the Daejeon District Court on July 18, according to legal sources on Monday.

The defendant was indicted after allegedly approaching an 8-year-old kid at a playground in September 2022 by offering to buy them food, obtaining their phone number and later sending them two messages containing photos of the defendant's genitals with the words “Come over.”

The kid never saw the messages, as the kid's mother had previously blocked the defendant's number, but the messages were stored in the “blocked messages” folder.

A lower court initially convicted the man, but an appellate court later acquitted him, ruling that since the child had not actually read the messages, they could not be considered an act of sexual abuse.

The Supreme Court rejected that reasoning. Justices ruled that the act of transmitting obscene messages to a child’s phone constitutes a completed offense of sexual abuse, regardless of whether the child actually opened or read them.

“A sexual abuse offense against a child does not require the offender to have a specific intent or goal,” the court said. “It is sufficient if the offender is at least indirectly aware of the risk or possibility of harm.

"As the obscene messages were stored in the kid's blocked folder, they could have easily accessed or read them at any time, thereby satisfying the legal threshold for a completed crime under the Child Welfare Act."

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff. BY CHO MUN-GYU [paik.jihwan@joongang.co.kr]