Open Decision Ledger · Criminal law
One reachable telephone number and justifiable reason for a change not filed
Supreme Court, Oct. 17, 2019, 2018Do2446 (judgment)
Case name: 성폭력범죄의처벌등에관한특례법위반(비밀준수등)
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Under Article 43(1)(v) of the Special Act on the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes and Article 3(1)(v)(a) of its Enforcement Decree, is it enough for a person registered under the Act to file any one of a home telephone number, a mobile telephone number or another reachable telephone number, and by what criteria is a justifiable reason assessed under Article 43(3) and Article 50(3)(ii) where the change information not filed is a telephone number?
Holding
It is enough. The purpose of requiring a telephone number is to secure a means by which the police can contact the registrant promptly, so the registrant need not file every telephone number, only one that reaches them. Where the change information not filed is a telephone number, whether there was a justifiable reason is decided case by case, taking fully into account the legislative purpose together with the motive and circumstances of the omission and whether contact with the registrant became difficult as a result.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
신상정보 등록대상자는 주거지 전화번호, 휴대전화 번호 또는 그 밖에 연락할 수 있는 전화번호 중 어느 것이든 연락이 가능한 것을 제출하면 충분하고 반드시 모든 전화번호를 제출하여야만 하는 것은 아니라고 해석된다.
Unofficial English translation
It is interpreted that it is sufficient for a person subject to personal information registration to submit any one of a residence telephone number, a mobile telephone number, or any other telephone number through which contact can be made, that is available for contact, and that he or she is not required to submit all telephone numbers.
Disposition
Reversed and remanded Stated in the decision
원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 대전지방법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Daejeon District Court.
Form of the test
Circumstances weighed Stated in the decision
변경정보를 제출하지 아니한 동기와 경위, 그로 인하여 신상정보 등록대상자와의 연락이 곤란해지는 결과가 발생하였는지 여부 등을 아울러 참작하여 구체적인 사안에 따라 개별적으로 판단하여야 한다.
Unofficial English translation
Taking into account together, among other matters, the motive and circumstances of the failure to submit the changed information and whether a result has arisen whereby contact with the person subject to personal information registration has become difficult, a determination must be made on an individual basis according to the specific case.
Factors
- 관할경찰서 등이 신상정보 등록대상자에게 신속하게 연락할 수 있는 수단을 확보하기 위한 데에 있다
- 신상정보 등록대상자는 주거지 전화번호, 휴대전화 번호 또는 그 밖에 연락할 수 있는 전화번호 중 어느 것이든 연락이 가능한 것을 제출하면 충분하고
- 변경정보를 제출하지 아니한 동기와 경위
- 그로 인하여 신상정보 등록대상자와의 연락이 곤란해지는 결과가 발생하였는지 여부 등을 아울러 참작하여
Unofficial English translation
• for the purpose of securing a means by which the competent police station and others may swiftly make contact with the person subject to personal information registration
• it is sufficient for a person subject to personal information registration to submit any one of a residence telephone number, a mobile telephone number, or any other telephone number through which contact can be made, that is available for contact, and
• the motive and circumstances of the failure to submit the changed information
• taking into account together, among other matters, whether a result has arisen whereby contact with the person subject to personal information registration has become difficult, and
Relation to precedent
Cannot be determined Not in the decision
Decisions referred to
해당 본문 참조
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
Once a number-change service ends so that calls to the old mobile number no longer connect, when does a failure to file the new number cease to have a justifiable reason?
A later decision applying this motive, circumstances and contact-difficulty test, or an amendment to Article 43 or Article 3(1)(v)(a) of the Enforcement Decree of the Special Act on the Punishment, etc. of Sexual Crimes, would require this entry to be read again.
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 8 (open question and revisit condition).
Axis 8 (Open question and revisit condition): Primary “Once a number-change service ends so that calls to the old mobile number no longer connect, when does a failure to file the new number cease to have a justifiable reason?” vs Independent “Can justifiable grounds exist when failure to report a changed telephone number actually makes contact difficult, and what circumstances would support that conclusion?”
Primary asks when the lapse of a number-change service makes the omission unjustified, while independent asks whether actual difficulty of contact can itself defeat justification. These point to different unresolved points.
신상정보 등록대상자는 주거지 전화번호, 휴대전화 번호 또는 그 밖에 연락할 수 있는 전화번호 중 어느 것이든 연락이 가능한 것을 제출하면 충분하고 반드시 모든 전화번호를 제출하여야만 하는 것은 아니라고 해석된다.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 Daejeon District Court, sitting on appeal, in its judgment of 24 January 2018 (2017No2452), held that the mobile telephone number is among the telephone numbers that Article 3(1)(v)(a) of the Enforcement Decree requires the registrant to file, and that the defendant had filed it as basic identifying information. It reasoned that once the mobile number changed on 25 April 2016, the defendant had to file the new mobile number again within 20 days, even though the home and office telephone numbers had not changed, and that the omission was without justifiable reason within Article 50(3)(ii).
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court reversed. It read Article 43(1)(v) as securing a means of prompt contact, so that filing any one reachable number among the home, mobile and other telephone numbers is enough and filing all of them is not required. On the admitted facts the home and office numbers had not changed, and a carrier's number-change service routed calls to the old mobile number to the new handset, so the police could still reach the defendant and even received a call back from the new number about two minutes later; the court below had misread Article 43(3) and Article 50(3)(ii) in holding that the omission was without justifiable reason.
Distinguishing conditions
- A case in which every number the registrant filed has become unreachable, so that no filed number still secures a means of prompt contact.
- A case without a number-change service or any equivalent arrangement, where a call to the old mobile number cannot reach the registrant and no other filed number remains unchanged.
- A case in which the omission itself, in its motive and circumstances, made contact difficult, since the Court weighed those matters together with the legislative purpose.
Record verification notes
List every telephone number the registrant filed and identify which of them had not changed when the change occurred, because the Court relied on the home and office numbers remaining valid. Then gather what shows whether the old number still reached the registrant, such as a carrier's number-change service, and what shows the motive and circumstances of the omission and whether the police in fact managed to make contact. The entry does not decide what happens once such an arrangement ends.
From the official text
Points at issue
성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한 특례법 제43조 제1항 제5호에서 신상정보 등록대상자가 제출하여야 할 기본신상정보의 하나로 ‘전화번호’를 규정한 취지 / 같은 법 시행령 제3조 제1항 제5호의 해석상 신상정보 등록대상자는 주거지 전화번호, 휴대전화 번호 또는 그 밖에 연락할 수 있는 전화번호 중 어느 것이든 연락이 가능한 것을 제출하면 충분한지 여부(적극) / 신상정보 등록대상자가 ‘정당한 사유’ 없이 변경정보를 제출하지 아니하였을 때에 한하여 처벌 대상으로 규정한 같은 법 제43조 제3항, 제50조 제3항 제2호에서 제출하지 아니한 변경정보가 전화번호인 경우, ‘정당한 사유’의 유무를 판단하는 기준
Unofficial English translation
The purpose of prescribing 'telephone number' as one of the basic personal information items that a person subject to personal information registration must submit under Article 43 (1), subparagraph 5 of the Act on Special Cases concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes / Whether, on the interpretation of Article 3 (1), subparagraph 5 of the Enforcement Decree of the same Act, it is sufficient for a person subject to personal information registration to submit any one of a residence telephone number, a mobile telephone number, or any other telephone number through which contact can be made, that is available for contact (affirmative) / The criteria for determining whether there exists a 'justifiable reason' where, under Article 43 (3) and Article 50 (3), subparagraph 2 of the same Act, which prescribe a person subject to personal information registration as subject to punishment only where he or she has failed to submit changed information without a 'justifiable reason', the changed information not submitted is a telephone number
Summary of the holding
성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한 특례법(이하 ‘성폭력처벌법’이라 한다) 제43조 제1항 제5호는 신상정보 등록대상자가 관할경찰서의 장 등에게 제출하여야 할 기본신상정보의 하나로 ‘연락처(전화번호, 전자우편주소를 말한다)’를 규정하고 있고, 성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한 특례법 시행령(이하 ‘시행령’이라 한다) 제3조 제1항 제5호 (가)목은 위 규정에 따라 제출하여야 하는 신상정보의 세부 내용을 정하면서 전화번호에 관하여 ‘주거지 전화번호, 휴대전화 번호 또는 그 밖에 연락할 수 있는 전화번호’라고 규정하고 있다. 성폭력처벌법 제43조 제3항은 같은 조 제1항에 따라 제출한 기본신상정보가 변경된 경우에는 변경사유가 발생한 날부터 20일 이내에 변경정보를 제출하도록 규정하고 있고, 성폭력처벌법 제50조 제3항 제2호는 같은 법 제43조 제3항을 위반하여 정당한 사유 없이 변경정보를 제출하지 아니한 자를 처벌하고 있다. 성폭력처벌법 제43조 제1항 제5호가 신상정보 등록대상자가 제출하여야 할 기본신상정보의 하나로 전화번호를 규정한 취지는 관할경찰서 등이 신상정보 등록대상자에게 신속하게 연락할 수 있는 수단을 확보하기 위한 데에 있다. 또한 시행령 제3조 제1항 제5호의 문언 형식과 내용에 비추어 보면, 신상정보 등록대상자는 주거지 전화번호, 휴대전화 번호 또는 그 밖에 연락할 수 있는 전화번호 중 어느 것이든 연락이 가능한 것을 제출하면 충분하고 반드시 모든 전화번호를 제출하여야만 하는 것은 아니라고 해석된다. 한편 성폭력처벌법 제43조 제3항, 제50조 제3항 제2호는 신상정보 등록대상자가 ‘정당한 사유’ 없이 변경정보를 제출하지 아니하였을 때에 한하여 처벌 대상으로 규정하고 있는데, 여기서 제출하지 아니한 변경정보가 전화번호인 경우 ‘정당한 사유’의 유무를 판단할 때에는 성폭력처벌법령에서 기본신상정보의 하나로 전화번호를 규정한 입법 취지를 충분히 고려하면서, 변경정보를 제출하지 아니한 동기와 경위, 그로 인하여 신상정보 등록대상자와의 연락이 곤란해지는 결과가 발생하였는지 여부 등을 아울러 참작하여 구체적인 사안에 따라 개별적으로 판단하여야 한다.
Order
원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 대전지방법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Daejeon District Court.
Provisions referred to
성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한 특례법 제43조 제1항 제5호, 제3항, 제50조 제3항 제2호, 성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한 특례법 시행령 제3조 제1항 제5호 (가)목
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.
Back to the ledger