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The Supreme Court overturned the judgment of the second trial, which judged a netizen innocent of the insult charge for commenting on singer and actress Suzy (28) as a 'national hotel girl'.



On the 28th, the second division of the Supreme Court (presiding judge Min Yoo-sook) overturned the lower court that acquitted A, a man in his 40s who was handed over to trial on charges of insult, and sent the case back to the Seoul Northern District Court.



In 2015, Mr. A was accused of making slanderous comments on an Internet portal article related to a movie Suzy appeared in, such as "The bubble created by Unplay (press play), just a national hotel girl."



Mr. A stated that Suzy changed her nickname of 'National Little Sister' after seeing a scandal between Suzy and a male celebrity at the investigative agency.



The first trial sentenced a fine of 1 million won, saying that Mr. A's expression was an insult that could lower Suzy's social evaluation.

On the other hand, the second trial judged that she could not apply the same criteria for establishing the offense of insult to a person receiving public attention, such as a celebrity, as a non-celebrity, and judged not guilty.

However, the Supreme Court overturned the judgment of the second trial, saying that 'National Hotel Girl' could have the character of 'hate expression' against women.



The Supreme Court said, "'National Hotel Girl' is a way of sexually objectifying the victim, suggesting the opposite image of the victim's innocence that was previously appealed to the public, and is degrading and degrading to the social evaluation of the victim as a female celebrity. It can be evaluated by expression, and it is difficult to see it as a justifiable act as it is out of the scope of legitimate criticism.”



In addition, the Supreme Court said, "Recently, hate speech on the grounds of race, gender, region of origin, etc. has become a social problem. Among hate expressions, it is necessary to consider that not a few hate expressions fall under the social evaluation of the victim and fall under the constitutive requirements of the offense of insult." pointed out



(Reporter Kang Kyung-yoon of SBS Entertainment News)