(image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 30 (Korea Bizwire) — The top court has ruled that repeatedly calling a mobile phone and leaving a record of “unanswered calls” should be punished as an act of stalking.
The Supreme Court recently overturned a lower court’s ruling that acquitted a man of charges related to the violation of the Stalking Crime Punishment Act and remanded the case for further consideration.
This man was indicted for sending nine messages and making 29 phone calls to the victim, with whom he had a romantic relationship, after a dispute over money resulted in the blocking of his mobile phone number.
However, an appellate court ruled that leaving a record of unanswered calls cannot be punished as stalking, citing a 2005 Supreme Court precedent that stated the ringing sound of the recipient’s phone cannot be considered a punishable act under the Information and Communication Network Act.
Nevertheless, since the implementation of the Stalking Punishment Act in October 2021, a series of lower court cases have determined that leaving unanswered calls or ringing the bell can be subject to punishment.
In this ruling, the Supreme Court also made its first statement, affirming that such an act can be punished as a violation of the Stalking Punishment Act.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
