Open Decision Ledger · Criminal law
Receiving a link to pornography stored on an uncontrolled server as possession
Supreme Court, Feb. 8, 2024, 2023Do9305 (judgment)
No holding summary · checked against points at issue. The official text publishes no summary of the holding for this decision. The quotation and factors in this record are copied verbatim from the points at issue; the evidence for each axis is taken from the points at issue, the order and the reasons.
Case name: 아동·청소년의성보호에관한법률위반(음란물소지)
Official text on the National Law Information Center
Question
Under Article 11(5) of the former Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents' Sexual Life, does a person who merely received an internet address (URL) permitting access to and download of child or adolescent pornography stored on a server the person does not control, and kept it, possess that pornography?
Holding
‘Possession’ means putting the material in a state one can control and keeping that control going. A link is no more than web location information for files stored on a server, so treating a mere state of being able to buy and view, or to access, the files as possession goes beyond what the word can bear. Where a person merely received such an address and there was no evidence that he downloaded the files onto his own storage medium, he did not move on to a state of actual control, and absent special circumstances his conduct is not possession.
Points at issue, verbatim
자신이 지배하지 않는 서버 등에 저장된 아동·청소년이용음란물에 접근하여 다운로드받을 수 있는 인터넷 주소(URL) 등을 제공받은 것에 그친 경우, 이를 아동·청소년이용음란물을 ‘소지’한 것으로 평가할 수 있는지 여부(원칙적 소극)
Unofficial English translation
Where a person has merely been provided with an Internet address (URL), etc. from which child or juvenile pornography stored on a server, etc. not under the person's control may be accessed and downloaded, whether such a person may be regarded as having ‘possessed’ child or juvenile pornography (in principle, negative)
Disposition
Reversed and remanded Stated in the decision
원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 광주지방법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Gwangju District Court.
Form of the test
Elements stated Stated in the decision
여기서 ‘소지’란 아동·청소년이용음란물을 자기가 지배할 수 있는 상태에 두고 지배관계를 지속시키는 행위를 말하고
Unofficial English translation
Here, ‘possession’ means an act of placing child or juvenile pornography in a state where one can control it and maintaining that relationship of control, and
Factors
- 구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률 제11조 제5항에서 정한 아동·청소년이용음란물 ‘소지’의 의미
- 자신이 지배하지 않는 서버 등에 저장된 아동·청소년이용음란물에 접근하여 다운로드받을 수 있는 인터넷 주소(URL) 등을 제공받은 것에 그친 경우, 이를 아동·청소년이용음란물을 ‘소지’한 것으로 평가할 수 있는지 여부(원칙적 소극)
Unofficial English translation
• Meaning of ‘possession’ of child or juvenile pornography as prescribed in paragraph (5) of Article 11 of the former Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles against Sexual Abuse
• Where a person has merely been provided with an Internet address (URL), etc. from which child or juvenile pornography stored on a server, etc. not under the person's control may be accessed and downloaded, whether such a person may be regarded as having ‘possessed’ child or juvenile pornography (in principle, negative)
Relation to precedent
Follows earlier decisions Stated in the decision
대법원 2023. 6. 29. 선고 2022도6278 판결(공2023하, 1407)
Unofficial English translation
Supreme Court Decision 2022Do6278 decided June 29, 2023 (Gong 2023 Ha, 1407)
Decisions referred to
대법원 2021. 9. 9. 선고 2017도19025 전원합의체 판결(공2021하, 1881), 대법원 2023. 3. 16. 선고 2022도15319 판결, 대법원 2023. 6. 29. 선고 2022도6278 판결(공2023하, 1407)
Burden of proof
Not addressed Not in the decision
Open question and revisit condition
What special circumstances, short of a download onto one's own storage medium, would make receiving and keeping a link to a server one does not control possession of the material?
A later decision naming the special circumstances that take a case outside this principle, or an amendment to Article 11(5) of the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents' Sexual Life, would require this entry to be read again. The remand judgment's findings on whether the defendant in fact downloaded the files onto his own storage medium would also show how the line is drawn in practice.
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.
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 Gwangju District Court, in its judgment of 21 June 2023 (2022No235), reversed the first-instance acquittal on the alternative charge and convicted the defendant. It held that he knew the files were child or adolescent pornography, paid KRW 30,000 to Non-Prosecuted Person 1 with intent to exercise control over them, and received the address of the internet cloud storage with no practical obstacle to accessing it, so that he had reached a factual state in which he could access, keep, distribute and share the files at any time, which was possession.
Supreme Court standard: The Supreme Court held that the court below had misapprehended the meaning of ‘possession’ in Article 11(5) of the former Act, with an error affecting the judgment. A URL is only web location information for files stored on a server, and treating a state of mere accessibility as possession exceeds the limits of the textual reading; the defendant received and kept the link, but there was no evidence he downloaded the files, so he never reached actual control and, absent special circumstances, did not possess them. Because the alternative charge had to fall, the principal charge in the same transaction could not stand either, and the whole judgment was reversed and remanded to the Gwangju District Court.
Distinguishing conditions
- A case in which the person downloaded the files through the link onto his own storage medium, so that he actually reached a state of control over them.
- A case with special circumstances taking it outside the principle, since the rule applies only where there are no special circumstances.
- A case in which the person received and kept the files themselves rather than only an internet address leading to them.
Record verification notes
Fix where the files were stored and who controls that server, then look for download logs or files on the defendant's own storage medium, since the Court relied on the absence of such evidence. Set the principal charge against the alternative charge, because a reversal of the alternative charge carried the principal charge with it here as one transaction. Ask whether the prosecution pleads any special circumstance that would take the case outside the principle, and confirm which version of the Act governed the conduct of 20 March 2020.
From the official text
Points at issue
구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률 제11조 제5항에서 정한 아동·청소년이용음란물 ‘소지’의 의미 / 자신이 지배하지 않는 서버 등에 저장된 아동·청소년이용음란물에 접근하여 다운로드받을 수 있는 인터넷 주소(URL) 등을 제공받은 것에 그친 경우, 이를 아동·청소년이용음란물을 ‘소지’한 것으로 평가할 수 있는지 여부(원칙적 소극)
Unofficial English translation
Meaning of ‘possession’ of child or juvenile pornography as prescribed in paragraph (5) of Article 11 of the former Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles against Sexual Abuse / Where a person has merely been provided with an Internet address (URL), etc. from which child or juvenile pornography stored on a server, etc. not under the person's control may be accessed and downloaded, whether such a person may be regarded as having ‘possessed’ child or juvenile pornography (in principle, negative)
Summary of the holding
The official text publishes no summary of the holding for this decision. The quotation and factors in this record are copied verbatim from the points at issue; the evidence for each axis is taken from the points at issue, the order and the reasons.
Order
원심판결을 파기하고, 사건을 광주지방법원에 환송한다.
Unofficial English translation
The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Gwangju District Court.
Provisions referred to
구 아동·청소년의 성보호에 관한 법률(2020. 6. 2. 법률 제17338호로 개정되기 전의 것) 제11조 제5항
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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