Device Privacy in Korean Divorce: Do not see your spouse’s private messages [Actual Judgment Attached]

Had been you conscious that it’s fairly frequent to unintentionally grow to be concerned in legal exercise throughout divorce proceedings?

Unauthorized entry to a different individual’s units or accounts constitutes a violation of the Act on Promotion of Info and Communications Community Utilization and Info Safety (정보통신망 이용촉진 및 정보보호 등에 관한 법률) and the Safety of Communications Secrets and techniques Act (통신비밀보호법), even when that individual is your personal partner. This consists of:

Instance 1: Secretly unlocking your partner’s telephone to examine for proof of an affair
Instance 2: Viewing or taking screenshots of your partner’s KakaoTalk or textual content messages with out their consent
Instance 3: Accessing your partner’s electronic mail account with out permission and studying their messages
Instance 4: Secretly copying or sending pictures or recordsdata saved by your partner

You’ll discover that these legal violations can happen extra simply than you may anticipate. Not solely the transmission of knowledge, but additionally accessing info utilizing patterns or passwords noticed out of your partner’s each day habits, and even trying to view such info, are all topic to legal penalties.

Divorce Technique vs Penalties: Rising Price of Privateness Violations

In some circumstances, Koreans might select to strategically settle for penalties, comparable to fines, in the event that they imagine the advantages of profitable the case outweigh the results. If you happen to may show your partner’s infidelity by snooping by their textual content messages, wouldn’t you be prepared to pay a small positive in return? Nonetheless, a latest high-profile case has considerably modified this notion: a lawyer was sentenced to 6 months in jail and brought into custody for secretly accessing a subordinate’s KakaoTalk conversations, and the sentence was upheld on enchantment.

Moreover, international nationals should be extra cautious when weighing their choices, as authorized violations can result in dangers comparable to visa revocation or deportation. Even when their residency standing stays unaffected, many roles in Korea require legal background checks for international residents. Making any legal report may be probably devastating. That is very true in fields comparable to language instructing, training, and healthcare, the place background checks are necessary.

Privateness Breach Undermining a Easy Divorce

In our earlier put up, we described how our SLG crew helped Mina, who had initially acquired nothing attributable to divorce fraud, efficiently obtained 102,000,000 KRW in property division, 25,000,000 KRW in compensation, and 1,200,000 KRW in month-to-month little one assist. (Earlier than the trial, her ex-husband had even defaulted on his promised month-to-month little one assist of 300,000 KRW!)

Nonetheless, Mina confronted one other problem when her ex-husband filed legal prices in opposition to her for submitting proof of his infidelity that she had found on his telephone.

What Are Legally Protected Secrets and techniques?

The Info and Communications Safety Act prohibits the invasion and misuse of others’ secrets and techniques (Article 49). The Supreme Court docket interprets ‘secrets and techniques’ as ‘details that aren’t usually identified and which profit the person by remaining undisclosed.’ Acts of infidelity clearly fall below this class of secrets and techniques. That is mentioned to be the commonest violation prosecuted in proof assortment circumstances.

Submitting such proof to the Court docket primarily quantities to a self-confession of violating the regulation. In consequence, it’s fairly frequent for people to face legal prices when the opposing social gathering makes use of their very own proof submission in opposition to them.

SLG Mounted Different Legislation Companies’ Deadly Errors

In Mina’s case, her earlier regulation agency had suggested her to submit the proof. As a schoolteacher, nonetheless, she all of the sudden discovered herself vulnerable to shedding her profession, as a result of the convicts should not allowed to show youngsters in Korean colleges. This illustrates why attorneys should think about their purchasers’ circumstances comprehensively. In any case, purchasers naturally belief their authorized representatives’ recommendation once they lack such specialised data.

In a scenario the place Mina had already confirmed her personal legal act by submitting KakaoTalk screenshots to court docket, SLG achieved the absolute best but extraordinarily tough end result – a suspended sentence.

Successful the Unattainable: Securing the Final Suspended Imposition

The Korean judicial system has three varieties of suspension: suspended execution of sentence (집행유예), suspended imposition of sentence (선고유예), and suspended prosecution (기소유예). Whereas these phrases might sound comparable in Korean because of the shared phrase “유예 (suspension),” they’re solely completely different ideas. Amongst these, suspended execution of sentence leaves a legal report, whereas each suspended imposition of sentence and suspended prosecution permit the report to be expunged after a sure interval.

Amongst these three, suspended imposition of sentence is the rarest and most tough to acquire. The defendant is acknowledged to be responsible. But the choose makes use of their sole discretion to exempt them from punishment, primarily setting apart or departing from earlier authorized precedents. This makes it a very burdensome choice for the choose to make. 

Nonetheless, SLG secured a suspended imposition of sentence by a number of methods: persuading Mina’s malicious husband to submit a letter of leniency by interesting to his self-interest, serving to the choose deeply empathize with Mina’s scenario, and submitting a honest letter of regret.

Conclusion: Can a Lawyer Change Your Life?

Contemplate how dramatically Mina’s life has modified after consulting with SLG attorneys. She had almost misplaced her profession because of the hasty recommendation from one other regulation agency. Now, she continues her skilled life with no legal report, residing fortunately together with her beloved son.

With in depth expertise in worldwide circumstances, we at SLG meticulously handle even the smallest particulars that others may miss, making certain we defend our purchasers’ rights and future till the very finish.