Expressing anger in a game chat rather than sexual desire

1. 01Question

   In deciding whether a person who sends sexually insulting messages through an internet game's chat window has the purpose to arouse or satisfy sexual desire under Article 13 of the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes etc., which circumstances must be weighed together, and may the fact that the victim was a woman, as the defendant was, establish that purpose on its own?

2. 02Holding

   The purpose is judged by weighing together the relationship between the two, the motive and circumstances of the act, its means and method, its content and manner, and the character and scope of the other side, reasonably in the light of social norms. Where the sender and the recipient did not even know each other's sex, had just been put on the same team that day, and the messages were sent one sentence at a time as a quarrel over the game escalated, the primary aim was to express anger, and it is hard to find a desire for psychological satisfaction gained by causing sexual shame. The appellate judgment, which found that the defendant had the purpose to arouse or satisfy sexual desire and held that the fact that the victim, like the defendant, was a woman did not stand in the way of that finding, misapprehended the law on that purpose.

   Summary of the holding, verbatim

   피고인은 갑과의 다툼 과정에서 자신의 분노를 표출하는 것이 주된 목적이었을 뿐 상대방에게 성적 수치심을 줌으로써 자신의 심리적 만족을 얻고자 하는 욕망이 있었다고 인정하기 어렵다는 이유로

   Unofficial English translation

   for the reason that, in the process of the altercation with A, the defendant's main purpose was merely to express his/her anger, and it is difficult to recognize that there was a desire to obtain his/her own psychological satisfaction by causing the other party sexual shame

3. 03Disposition

   Reversed and remanded Stated in the decision

   원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 서울중앙지방법원에 환송한다.

   Unofficial English translation

   The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Seoul Central District Court.

4. 04Form of the test

   Circumstances weighed Stated in the decision

   피고인과 피해자의 관계, 행위의 동기와 경위, 행위의 수단과 방법, 행위의 내용과 태양, 상대방의 성격과 범위 등 여러 사정을 종합하여 사회통념에 비추어 합리적으로 판단하여야 한다

   Unofficial English translation

   it must be judged reasonably in light of social common sense by comprehensively considering various circumstances such as the relationship between the defendant and the victim, the motive and circumstances of the act, the means and method of the act, the content and manner of the act, and the character and scope of the other party, etc.

5. 05Factors

   • 피고인과 갑은 서로의 성별조차도 모르는 사이로서
   • 당일 처음 인터넷 게임상에서 함께 팀을 이뤄 게임을 하게 되었고
   • 피고인이 갑과 같은 팀에 소속되어 게임을 하는 과정에서 피고인을 포함한 같은 팀원들이 갑에게 ‘갑이 게임을 망치고 있다.’는 취지의 메시지를 보냈고
   • 피고인은 갑과 다투는 과정에서 다소 공격적인 갑의 메시지 내용에 화가 나서 위 메시지를 한 문장씩 전송한 것인 점
   • 위 메시지에 갑의 부모를 대상으로 하는 모멸감을 주는 표현이 섞여 있기는 하나

   Unofficial English translation

   • the defendant and A did not even know each other's gender, and

   • on that day, they first formed a team together on an internet game and played the game, and

   • in the course of the defendant playing the game as a member of the same team as A, the members of the same team, including the defendant, sent messages to A to the effect that 'A is ruining the game,' and

   • the defendant, in the process of arguing with A, became angry at the somewhat aggressive content of A's messages and sent the above messages one sentence at a time, and

   • although expressions giving a sense of contempt directed at A's parents are mixed into the above messages,

6. 06Relation to precedent

   Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision

   대법원 2017. 6. 8. 선고 2016도21389 판결(공2017하, 1499)

   Unofficial English translation

   Supreme Court Decision 2016Do21389 decided June 8, 2017 (Gong 2017 Ha, 1499)

   Decisions referred to

   [1] 대법원 2017. 6. 8. 선고 2016도21389 판결(공2017하, 1499)

7. 07Burden of proof

   Not addressed Not in the decision

8. 08Open question and revisit condition

   If the messages had been composed and sent in one burst during a quarrel rather than one sentence at a time, what would show that the aim was still only to express anger?

   The judgment of the Seoul Central District Court on remand will show how the purpose is assessed on a record of this kind, and should be read with this entry. A later Supreme Court decision changing the factors for the purpose under Article 13 of the Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes etc., or an amendment to that Article, would also require this entry to be read again.

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.