Recently I got a question from a foreigner. She was wondering if she could take any legal actions against her Korean ex-employee who harassed her by stating false information about her and telling her customers not to do a business with her.
From a perspective of Korean Criminal law, currently there is no general law on harassment or stalking thing. The respective laws have its own regulations on which behavior constitutes a certain crime is not.
Generally speaking, A person who defames another by publicly alleging facts (false or not) shall be punished by imprisonment or imprisonment without prison labor for not more than two years or by a fine not exceeding five million won. Also, if the ex-employee’s act can be interpreted as he interfered with her business by circulating false facts or through fraudulent means, or by the threat of force, it constitutes a crime of interference of business and he shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than five years or by a fine not exceeding fifteen million won. Also she might request for compensation or damage resulted from his unlawful acts. Provisional disposition for prohibition of approach could be applied in Korea. However these shall be considered further with more accurate information provided.
So, in a legal standpoint, she may warn him to stop doing that kind of act or he’ll be in a danger of being charged in Korea. In this case send the warning letter in the name of Korean lawyer is strongly recommended. It is not hard to see, in Korea, people stop violating one’s legal right after receiving a lawyer’s warning letter and recognizing illegality of his or her behavior.
Also please make sure to gather and file every evidence of the person’s illegal acts preparing for possible legal disputes in Korea.
© 2008 Wonil Chung, a Korean Criminal Lawyer/Chung & Partners, a Korean Criminal Law Firm. All rights reserved. Some copyrights, photos, icons, trademarks, trade dress, or other commercial symbols that appear on this post are the property of the respective owners.
August 1, 2008 at 3:52 pm |
“…publicly alleging facts (false or not)…”
Does this mean that there is no defense of truth under Korean law? I thought that by definition, “defamation” meant FALSE statements – is it different under Korean law?
August 2, 2008 at 12:18 pm |
Under Korean law, even “stating the truth” can be a defamation if it is stated publicly. “Publicly” means “to many persons” or “to unspecified person(s)”. If it is false statement, it aggravates the penalty. There is a defense of truth though. If it is true and solely for the public interest, the act shall not be punishable.