📌 Case Overview

The Korean Supreme Court ruled that blocking a neighbor’s only exit with heavy household items constitutes unlawful confinement (감금죄) under the Criminal Act.

Final sentence: ₩300,000 fine upheld.



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📌 Facts

Defendant A (70s, caregiver) became upset after neighbor B (77-year-old woman) filed a complaint to the authorities about clutter in the shared area.

In retaliation, A stacked heavy items (desk, table, plywood, flowerpots, etc.) tightly in the shared space directly in front of B’s only front door.

Prosecutors argued this made it impossible or extremely difficult for B to leave her home, constituting confinement.



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📌 Lower Court Rulings

1️⃣ Trial Court (1st Instance) – Not Guilty

A likely intended to annoy or inconvenience B.

But B did manage to leave her home and later re-enter.

Court held difficulty existed, but not to the degree of making exit “impossible or severely difficult.”


2️⃣ Appeals Court – Guilty (₩300,000 fine)

Heavy items were stacked to about B’s height, very densely.

B was an elderly woman; climbing over the obstacles to exit was dangerous.

Court found:

A’s act made exiting “severely difficult.”

A had at least reckless intent (미필적 고의) to confine B.

The crime was completed the moment B recognized she was confined and attempted to exit.

The fact that she later returned home does not negate confinement.




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📌 Supreme Court Decision

Upheld the conviction (₩300,000 fine).

Found no error in the appeals court’s reasoning regarding:

Evaluation of evidence.

Interpretation of confinement under Korean criminal law.




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📌 Key Legal Point

Blocking a person’s only exit with heavy objects, making escape severely difficult, can constitute unlawful confinement—even if the victim eventually manages to get out by taking risks.

Article: https://www.lawtimes.co.kr/Case-curation/213229