Open Decision Ledger · Criminal law
Profit motive under the former Youth Protection Act includes indirect benefit
Supreme Court, Sept. 24, 2020, 2020Do8978 (judgment)
Case name: 아동·청소년의성보호에관한법률위반(음란물제작·배포등)·도박공간개설·정보통신망이용촉진및정보보호등에관한법률위반(음란물유포)
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Under Article 11(2) of the former Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents' Sexual Life, does 'for profit' mean an intention to obtain a property gain through the specific violation, and does an operator of a private internet gambling site who posted youth-obscene videos in a social network service open chatroom and then lured its members to gamble on his site act for profit both in opening the gambling space and in publicly displaying the material?
Holding
The term means an intention to obtain a property gain or to pursue profit through the specific violation the Act defines. It broadly covers a purpose of obtaining economic benefit, so it is satisfied not only where the gain is the direct consideration for the act but also where the gain will come indirectly through the violation. Since the operator opened the chatroom, posted the youth-obscene videos, then used the members' names and telephone numbers to approve their gambling-site accounts and induce them to gamble, the Court held that both the act of opening a gambling space for profit and the public display of youth-obscene material for profit were established.
Summary of the holding, verbatim
위 조항에서 규정하는 ‘영리의 목적’이란 위 법률이 정한 구체적 위반행위를 함에 있어서 재산적 이득을 얻으려는 의사 또는 이윤을 추구하는 의사를 말하며
Unofficial English translation
The term 'for the purpose of profit' as provided in the aforesaid Article means the intention to obtain a pecuniary gain or the intention to pursue profit in committing the specific acts of violation prescribed by the aforesaid Act, and
Disposition
Dismissed Stated in the decision
상고를 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
The appeal is dismissed.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
반드시 아동·청소년이용음란물 배포 등 위반행위의 직접적인 대가가 아니라 위반행위를 통하여 간접적으로 얻게 될 이익을 위한 경우에도 영리의 목적이 인정된다
Unofficial English translation
The purpose of profit need not necessarily be a direct consideration for an act of violation such as the distribution of child or juvenile pornography, and may also be regarded as established where it is for a benefit to be obtained indirectly through the act of violation
Factors
- 위 법률이 정한 구체적 위반행위를 함에 있어서 재산적 이득을 얻으려는 의사 또는 이윤을 추구하는 의사를 말하며
- 반드시 아동·청소년이용음란물 배포 등 위반행위의 직접적인 대가가 아니라
- 위반행위를 통하여 간접적으로 얻게 될 이익을 위한 경우에도 영리의 목적이 인정된다
- 영리를 목적으로 도박공간을 개설한 행위가 인정됨은 물론
Unofficial English translation
• means the intention to obtain a pecuniary gain or the intention to pursue profit in committing the specific acts of violation prescribed by the aforesaid Act, and
• need not necessarily be a direct consideration for an act of violation such as the distribution of child or juvenile pornography
• the purpose of profit may also be regarded as established where it is for a benefit to be obtained indirectly through the act of violation
• the act of opening a gambling space for the purpose of profit may not only be regarded as established
Relation to precedent
Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision
대법원 2004. 3. 26. 선고 2003도8003 판결
Unofficial English translation
Supreme Court Decision 2003Do8003 decided March 26, 2004
Decisions referred to
대법원 1997. 12. 12. 선고 97도2368 판결(공1998상, 357), 대법원 2004. 3. 26. 선고 2003도8003 판결, 대법원 2008. 10. 23. 선고 2008도3970 판결(공2008하, 1639), 대법원 2017. 8. 18. 선고 2017도7134 판결(공2017하, 1827)
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
Where the operator posted youth-obscene videos but the chatroom recruits were never induced to use the gambling site, so that no economic benefit could flow from the display, can the profit motive for the public display still be found on the basis of an indirect benefit alone?
A later decision that reads the profit motive in Article 11(2) of the former Act more narrowly, or any further amendment to that Act replacing Act No. 17338 of 2 June 2020, would require this entry to be read again. Evidence that the chatroom recruits were never induced to use the gambling site would reopen the application to these facts.
Cross-family AI independent reading & axis check
8 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 all 8 axes.
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Lower-court contrast & scope of application
Lower-court reading vs. Supreme Court holding
Lower-court context: The Seoul Central District Court, in its judgment of 18 June 2020 (2020No60), held that the defendant, in concert with employees including co-defendant 1, opened an open chatroom to promote an illegal gambling site and thereby publicly displayed youth-obscene material for profit on ten occasions. It found the defendant's intent, the conspiracy and the profit motive made out, and convicted him, forfeiting KRW 1,163,469,000 from him.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court found no error. Reading the appellate reasons against the relevant legal principles and the lawfully admitted evidence, it held that the court below had not violated the rules of logic and experience, had not overstepped the limits of free evaluation, and had not misread joint principalship, Article 11(2) of the former Act or the law on forfeiture, so the conviction and the amount forfeited stood. It added that a claim that the sentence is too heavy is not a lawful ground of appeal under Article 383(iv) of the Criminal Procedure Act, which allows it only where death, life imprisonment or at least ten years' imprisonment or penal servitude has been imposed, and all the Justices unanimously dismissed the appeal.
Distinguishing conditions
- A case in which the material displayed is not youth-obscene material as defined by the Act, since the offence requires such material to be publicly displayed.
- A case in which no intention to obtain a property gain or to pursue profit through the violation exists, since the profit motive is the element the Court defined.
- An appeal asserting only that the sentence is too heavy in a case where a sentence lighter than ten years' imprisonment or penal servitude was imposed, since the reasons say such a claim is not a lawful ground of appeal.
Record verification notes
First confirm that the posted videos are youth-obscene material under the former Act as it stood before the amendment by Act No. 17338 of 2 June 2020. Then trace the link between the chatroom and the gambling site, since the Court accepted an indirect economic benefit as the profit motive. Also check that the sentence imposed reaches ten years' imprisonment or penal servitude before arguing that it is excessive.
From the official text
Points at issue
구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률 제11조 제2항에서 규정한 ‘영리의 목적’의 의미와 범위 / 사설 인터넷 도박사이트를 운영하는 사람이, 먼저 소셜 네트워크 서비스 앱에 오픈채팅방을 개설하여 아동·청소년이용음란 동영상을 게시하고 1:1 대화를 통해 불특정 다수를 위 오픈채팅방 회원으로 가입시킨 다음, 그 오픈채팅방에서 자신이 운영하는 도박사이트를 홍보하면서 회원들이 가입 시 입력한 이름, 전화번호 등을 이용하여 전화를 걸어 위 도박사이트 가입을 승인해주는 등의 방법으로 가입을 유도하고 그 도박사이트를 이용하여 도박을 하게 한 경우, 영리를 목적으로 도박공간을 개설한 행위가 인정되는지 여부(적극) 및 영리를 목적으로 아동·청소년이용음란물을 공연히 전시한 행위도 인정되는지 여부(적극)
Unofficial English translation
Meaning and scope of the term 'for the purpose of profit' as provided in Article 11 (2) of the former Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles from Sexual Abuse / Whether, where a person operating a privately run Internet gambling site first opens an open chat room on a social network service app, posts a video constituting child or juvenile pornography, and, through 1:1 conversations, induces an unspecified multitude of persons to register as members of the aforesaid open chat room, and then, while promoting the gambling site he operates in that open chat room, encourages registration and has them gamble by using the gambling site, by, among other things, making calls using the names, telephone numbers, etc. entered by the members upon registration to approve their registration with the aforesaid gambling site, the act of opening a gambling space for the purpose of profit may be regarded as established (affirmative) and whether the act of publicly displaying child or juvenile pornography for the purpose of profit may also be regarded as established (affirmative)
Summary of the holding
구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(2020. 6. 2. 법률 제17338호로 개정되기 전의 것) 제11조 제2항은 영리를 목적으로 아동·청소년이용음란물을 공연히 전시한 자는 10년 이하의 징역에 처한다고 규정한다. 위 조항에서 규정하는 ‘영리의 목적’이란 위 법률이 정한 구체적 위반행위를 함에 있어서 재산적 이득을 얻으려는 의사 또는 이윤을 추구하는 의사를 말하며, 이는 널리 경제적인 이익을 취득할 목적을 말하는 것으로서 반드시 아동·청소년이용음란물 배포 등 위반행위의 직접적인 대가가 아니라 위반행위를 통하여 간접적으로 얻게 될 이익을 위한 경우에도 영리의 목적이 인정된다. 따라서 사설 인터넷 도박사이트를 운영하는 사람이, 먼저 소셜 네트워크 서비스 앱에 오픈채팅방을 개설하여 아동·청소년이용음란 동영상을 게시하고 1:1 대화를 통해 불특정 다수를 위 오픈채팅방 회원으로 가입시킨 다음, 그 오픈채팅방에서 자신이 운영하는 도박사이트를 홍보하면서 회원들이 가입 시 입력한 이름, 전화번호 등을 이용하여 전화를 걸어 위 도박사이트 가입을 승인해주는 등의 방법으로 가입을 유도하고 그 도박사이트를 이용하여 도박을 하게 하였다면, 영리를 목적으로 도박공간을 개설한 행위가 인정됨은 물론, 나아가 영리를 목적으로 아동·청소년이용음란물을 공연히 전시한 행위도 인정된다.
Order
상고를 기각한다.
Unofficial English translation
The appeal is dismissed.
Provisions referred to
구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(2020. 6. 2. 법률 제17338호로 개정되기 전의 것) 제11조 제2항, 형법 제247조
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