Supreme Court Rules "Do You Want to Get Hit Too" in Front of Parents Does Not Constitute Insult

The Supreme Court has ruled that a defendant who used profanity, saying "Are you the son? Do you want to get hit like that jerk too?" in front of the victim's parents during an argument, is not guilty of insult.

According to legal circles on July 10, the Third Division of the Supreme Court (Justice Lee Heung-gu presiding) recently overturned the lower court's ruling, which had fined the defendant, identified as A, 500,000 won, and remanded the case to the Daejeon District Court.

In May 2023, in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, A was indicted on charges of insult for swearing at B (15) during a dispute with B's father over land boundaries, saying, "Hey, you son of a b *. What are you?" and "Are you the son? Do you want to get hit too, you b*?"

The first and second trials found A guilty of insult and imposed a fine.

However, the Supreme Court determined that the crime of insult was not established and sent the case back with the intention of an acquittal.

Article 311 of the Criminal Act (Insult) stipulates that "a person who publicly insults another shall be punished by imprisonment or imprisonment without prison labor for not more than one year or by a fine not exceeding 2 million won."

According to Supreme Court precedents, "publicity" refers to a state in which an unspecified number of people or a large number of people can perceive the act.

While publicity can be recognized if there is an objectively recognized possibility that the remarks made to a small number of people could be spread to an unspecified or large number of people, the court's precedent also states that the fact that the remarks were made only to a specific small group can be a strong factor in denying publicity.

In A's case, the Supreme Court judged, "The only people who heard the profanity were the victim's father and the defendant's parents, and it is unlikely that the defendant's parents would spread the profanity to others," adding, "It is insufficient to recognize publicity beyond a reasonable doubt."
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.