Supreme Court Rules Profanity in Floor-Noise Dispute Does Not Constitute Insult

The Supreme Court has ruled that the use of simple profanity merely intended to hurt another person's feelings does not constitute the crime of insult.

According to the legal community on July 24, Supreme Court Justice Shin Sook-hee of the Supreme Court's First Division overturned the lower court's ruling, which had sentenced a defendant, A, to a fine of 1 million won for insult charges, and sent the case back to the Daegu District Court.

Defendant A was indicted on charges of insulting another apartment resident, B, during an argument over floor noise in October 2022 by hurling profanities such as, "Hey, you son of a bitch."

On the day of the incident, A called the police to complain about the noise, but officers withdrew after advising them to resolve the issue through the management office. The dispute broke out when A went to see B accompanied by a management office employee.

The first and second-instance courts found the charges guilty and sentenced A to a fine of 1 million won.

The lower courts based their decision on the fact that because A used profanity in the apartment hallway late at night when most residents were at home, the remarks were in a state where an unspecified or multiple persons could perceive them.

However, the Supreme Court ruled with the intent of acquittal, stating that profanity merely to the extent of making the other party unpleasant does not constitute the crime of insult.

The Supreme Court stated, "If a certain expression is rude and impolite enough to make the other party unpleasant, or if it expresses a negative or critical opinion or emotion toward the other party while using a mild level of abstract expression or profanity, it cannot, barring special circumstances, be regarded as an expression that impairs external reputation," ruling that it does not fall under the elements of the crime of insult.

In A's case as well, the court determined that the remarks were merely simple profanity uttered while in an excited state to express negative feelings toward B, which at most would hurt subjective feelings, and could not be objectively viewed as an insult likely to lower the social evaluation of B's personal value.

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