▲ Seoul High Court
Lawyer Jeong Cheol-seung, who was put on trial for forcibly groping a junior lawyer and publicizing the identity of the victim of sexual harassment by the late former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, has been sentenced to 1 year and 6 months in prison and taken into custody in the appellate court.
The 4-2 Criminal Division of the Seoul High Court overturned the lower court's ruling today (30th) and sentenced lawyer Jeong, who was indicted on charges of indecent act by compulsion resulting in injury, violation of the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Crimes, defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc., and violation of the Personal Information Protection Act, to 1 year and 6 months in prison.
The court also ordered him to complete 40 hours of a sexual violence treatment program.
Jeong was put on trial for uploading posts containing details that could identify the victim of the former mayor's sexual violence case on his personal social media several times around August 2021, and was sentenced to 1 year in prison in the first trial.
He was also sentenced to 1 year in prison in the first trial on charges of forcibly groping and injuring a junior lawyer he met for the first time at a wine bar in Seocho-gu, Seoul, in March 2023.
Regarding the case involving the victim of sexual harassment by the former mayor, the court determined that the specific work history of the victim included in the social media posts allowed people around her to identify her.
As for the charge of indecent act by compulsion, the court judged that the victim's statement was specific and consistent, and did not conflict with objective evidence such as CCTV footage.
Consequently, the court reprimanded him, stating, "He did what a lawyer should not have done," and "He inflicted great suffering on the victim by posting on social media what should have been argued in court as a legal representative."
The court added, "The act of recklessly disclosing the personal information of a sexual violence victim is also of a grave nature," and overturned the lower court's rulings in both cases, sentencing lawyer Jeong to 1 year and 6 months in prison.
(Photo: Yonhap News)
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