Open Decision Ledger · Criminal law
Meaning of material perceivable as depicting a youth
Supreme Court, May 30, 2019, 2015Do863 (judgment)
Case name: 정보통신망이용촉진및정보보호등에관한법률위반(음란물유포)방조·청소년보호법위반·아동·청소년의성보호에관한법률위반(음란물제작·배포등)방조[예비적죄명:정보통신망이용촉진및정보보호등에관한법률위반(음란물유포)방조]·아동·청소년의성보호에관한법률위반(음란물제작·배포등)[예비적죄명:정보통신망이용촉진및정보보호등에관한법률위반(음란물유포)](표현물이 등장하는 아동·청소년이용음란물의 판단 기준)
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
What does 'material that can be perceived as a child or adolescent' in Article 2(v) of the former Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents' Sexuality mean, and by what criteria is it decided in an individual case?
Holding
It means material that, viewed objectively from the standpoint of the average member of society, clearly depicts a youth. In an individual case the court must weigh together the depiction of the figure's appearance and physical development, voice or speech, clothing, the situation set up, and the background or plot of the video, and decide with care, taking account of the legislative purpose and history of the Act and the nature of a depiction, which has no age of its own beyond what its creator set. On that standard the Court found no error in the convictions below and dismissed all the defendants' appeals.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
위 법률 제2조 제5호에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년으로 인식될 수 있는 표현물’이란 사회 평균인의 시각에서 객관적으로 보아 명백하게 청소년으로 인식될 수 있는 표현물을 의미하고, 개별적인 사안에서 표현물이 나타내고 있는 인물의 외모와 신체발육에 대한 묘사, 음성 또는 말투, 복장, 상황 설정, 영상물의 배경이나 줄거리 등 여러 사정을 종합적으로 고려하여 신중하게 판단하여야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
The 'visual materials that can be perceived as children or adolescents' as used in subparagraph 5 of Article 2 of the above Act means visual materials that, viewed objectively from the perspective of an average member of society, can clearly be perceived as adolescents, and in individual cases a careful determination must be made by comprehensively considering various circumstances such as the depiction of the appearance and physical development of the person portrayed in the visual materials, the voice or manner of speech, attire, setting, and the background or plot of the video materials.
Disposition
Dismissed Stated in the decision
상고를 모두 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
All appeals are dismissed.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
‘아동·청소년으로 인식될 수 있는 표현물’이란 사회 평균인의 시각에서 객관적으로 보아 명백하게 청소년으로 인식될 수 있는 표현물을 의미하고
Unofficial English translation
The 'visual materials that can be perceived as children or adolescents' means visual materials that, viewed objectively from the perspective of an average member of society, can clearly be perceived as adolescents, and
Factors
- 구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(2012. 12. 18. 법률 제11572호로 전부 개정되기 전의 것)의 입법 목적과 개정 연혁, 표현물의 특징 등에 비추어 보면
- 사회 평균인의 시각에서 객관적으로 보아 명백하게 청소년으로 인식될 수 있는 표현물을 의미하고
- 개별적인 사안에서 표현물이 나타내고 있는 인물의 외모와 신체발육에 대한 묘사
- 음성 또는 말투, 복장, 상황 설정
- 영상물의 배경이나 줄거리 등 여러 사정을 종합적으로 고려하여 신중하게 판단하여야 한다
Unofficial English translation
• In light of the legislative purpose and history of amendments of the former Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents against Sexual Abuse (as in force prior to its complete amendment by Act No. 11572 on December 18, 2012), and the characteristics of the visual materials, among other things
• it means visual materials that, viewed objectively from the perspective of an average member of society, can clearly be perceived as adolescents
• the depiction of the appearance and physical development of the person portrayed in the visual materials in an individual case
• the voice or manner of speech, attire, setting
• a careful determination must be made by comprehensively considering various circumstances such as the background or plot of the video materials
Relation to precedent
Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision
대법원 2014. 9. 24. 선고 2013도4503 판결(공2014하, 2138)
Unofficial English translation
Supreme Court Decision 2013Do4503 decided September 24, 2014 (Gong 2014 Ha, 2138)
Decisions referred to
대법원 2014. 9. 24. 선고 2013도4503 판결(공2014하, 2138), 대법원 2014. 9. 26. 선고 2013도12607 판결
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
Where the creator has set the character's age as an adult and only the appearance suggests a youth, does the material still count as one that can be clearly perceived as depicting a youth?
A later decision on how the word 'clearly' applies where the setting and the depiction conflict would call for this entry to be read again. So would an amendment to Article 2(v) of the Act, or a finding on the defendants' knowledge that they could not have made below.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
7 of 8 axes matched GPT-6 Astra (OpenAI, codex CLI) · 2026-10-25
A reader from another model family (GPT-6 Astra), given the official text but not the primary reading, agreed on 7 of the 8 axes; the readings differed on axis 4 (form of the test).
Axis 4 (Form of the test): Primary “Elements stated” vs Independent “Circumstances weighed”
The two readings differ on how the judgment standard is framed: one presents it as a set of requirements to be met, the other as a comprehensive weighing. Both cite the same factors, so the gap lies mainly in how the test is described.
여러 사정을 종합적으로 고려하여 신중하게 판단하여야 한다.Raw responses and comparison record: Protocol · Blind readings (JSONL) · Axis comparison (JSONL) · SHA-256 (JSON)
Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Incheon District Court, in its judgment of 19 December 2014 (2014No2680), left the first-instance convictions untouched. It held that the figures in the cartoon video posted by Defendant 4 on the webhard site that Defendant 1 ran through Defendant 3 Company looked under 19 in appearance and, in the setting of the work, were children or adolescents shown engaging in sexual intercourse, so that the video was youth sexual material; Defendant 4 posted it knowing this, and Defendant 1 tolerated the posting while knowing that youth sexual material could appear on the site. It also convicted Defendants 1, 2 and the company of aiding the dissemination of obscene material under the Information and Communications Network Act, and Defendant 1 of an offence under the Youth Protection Act.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court found no error. Taking the legal principle it stated as the measure, it held that the court below had not failed to carry out necessary examination, misapprehended the law on youth sexual material, or gone beyond the limits of free evaluation in convicting on the primary charge of producing and distributing obscene material and on the aiding counts. It likewise found no misapprehension of the law on the intent required for aiding the dissemination of obscene material or on youth-harmful media, and dismissed all the defendants' appeals by unanimous opinion.
Distinguishing conditions
- A depiction in which the figure is not clearly perceived as a youth by the average member of society, since the Court required that clarity.
- Content whose medium falls outside the forms listed in Article 2(v), namely film, video material, game material or images and video delivered through a computer or other communications media.
- Conduct governed by the Act as it stood before the amendment of 15 September 2011 (Law No. 11047), which did not extend to persons or depictions that can only be perceived as children or adolescents.
Record verification notes
First identify which version of the Act governed the conduct, because the Court read the earlier wording in the light of the word 'clearly' added by the amendment of 18 December 2012. Then take the work itself and record what it shows of appearance and physical development, voice or speech, clothing, the situation set up, and the background or plot, since the Court required those matters to be weighed together in the individual case. For the aiding counts, keep the point separate and look for evidence that each defendant knew the material was, or could be, youth sexual material.
From the official text
Points at issue
구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률 제2조 제5호에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년으로 인식될 수 있는 표현물’의 의미와 판단 기준
Unofficial English translation
Meaning and criteria for determining 'visual materials that can be perceived as children or adolescents' as used in subparagraph 5 of Article 2 of the former Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents against Sexual Abuse
Summary of the holding
구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(2012. 12. 18. 법률 제11572호로 전부 개정되기 전의 것)의 입법 목적과 개정 연혁, 표현물의 특징 등에 비추어 보면, 위 법률 제2조 제5호에서 말하는 ‘아동·청소년으로 인식될 수 있는 표현물’이란 사회 평균인의 시각에서 객관적으로 보아 명백하게 청소년으로 인식될 수 있는 표현물을 의미하고, 개별적인 사안에서 표현물이 나타내고 있는 인물의 외모와 신체발육에 대한 묘사, 음성 또는 말투, 복장, 상황 설정, 영상물의 배경이나 줄거리 등 여러 사정을 종합적으로 고려하여 신중하게 판단하여야 한다.
Order
상고를 모두 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
All appeals are dismissed.
Provisions referred to
구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(2011. 9. 15. 법률 제11047호로 개정되기 전의 것) 제2조 제5호, 구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(2012. 12. 18. 법률 제11572호로 전부 개정되기 전의 것) 제1조, 제2조 제1호, 제5호, 제8조 제2항(현행 제11조 제2항 참조), 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률 제2조 제5호
Read 2026-10-25 · Cross-read 2026-10-25. All quotes matched against the official text. The Chinese-character placeholders the court used for anonymised parties are given in their Korean readings, and parenthetical Chinese-character glosses are omitted.
Every entry is published only after all quotes have been matched character by character against the official text, and audited by an independent second reading from a different model family across all eight axes. Both agreed axes and text-grounded interpretive divergences are recorded openly. The ledger is a research record, not an assessment of the court or advice on any matter.
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