1. The Constitution, in Article 21, Section (1), guarantees freedom of expression by prescribing that “All citizens shall enjoy freedom of the press and freedom of publication.” Meanwhile, the main sentence of Section (4) of this article expressly provides the honor or rights of other persons as a limit to freedom of expression by stating that “Neither the press nor any publication shall violate the honor or rights of other persons.” Thus, a way should be found to guarantee freedom of expression and at the same time to harmonize this freedom with the honor or rights of other persons. 2. Even if the facts alleged correspond to objective truth, if they concern information an individual wishes to keep confidential, such as his or her medical history, sexual orientation, or family matters, communicating such information may constitute a grave violation of secrecy and freedom of private life, which are proclaimed by Article 17 of the Constitution. Moreover, disclosing such information that is irrelevant to the public interest and only amounts to an individual’s secrecy of private life may be incompatible with the original purport and intent of guaranteeing freedom of expression, which is to further reasonable decision-making in the community through debate and deliberation as well as to further constructive criticism and improvement of matters of public concern. Therefore, although the Provision at Issue violates freedom of expression, we view that the scope of a declaration of its unconstitutionality should be limited to the minimum necessary. 3. With reference to this view, we note that the German Criminal Code prescribes criminal penalties only for cases where an asserted or disseminated fact is untrue or is not proven to be true. This code seeks to harmonize the two interests by exempting from criminal punishment those cases where an asserted or disseminated fact is proven to be true. We also note that one of our Criminal Act amendment bills proposed to establish criminal penalties only for cases where the facts alleged violate secrecy of private life. This bill proposed to harmonize the two interests - 23 -