📝 Summary

A father in his 50s, identified as A, was put on trial for allegedly violating Korea’s Communications Privacy Act after giving his elementary-school child a recorder and telling them to record everything that happened at school. The prosecution claimed that, through the child, A secretly recorded private conversations between the homeroom teacher and another student in 2023. Because the Act prohibits recording private, non-public conversations without all participants’ consent, the father was indicted.

A denied all charges in court. He admitted giving his child the recorder back in 2021, but argued there was no evidence the child ever used it on the date in question — and claimed his child wasn’t even at school that day.

The Busan District Court (Criminal Division 5) acquitted him. The main reason: there was no actual audio recording submitted as evidence. The prosecution listed no recording file in its evidence inventory, leaving the court no concrete proof that any illegal recording occurred.

The teacher’s inconsistent testimony further weakened the prosecution’s case.

During the investigation, the teacher claimed the child always wore a recorder and that all school conversations were recorded and reviewed at home.

But on the witness stand, the teacher walked back those claims, saying they had never personally seen the recorder and weren’t sure whether the child had ever recorded anything at all — noting it was possible they had simply heard the child talking about school at home.


Considering the absence of a recording, the teacher’s reversed testimony, and lack of corroborating evidence, the court ruled that the alleged crime was not proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

The prosecution has filed an appeal, and the case will move to a higher court.

Article: https://mobile.newsis.com/view/NISX20251128_0003421793