Article 70 of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, Etc. (Penalty Provisions) (1) A person who commits defamation of another person by disclosing a fact to the public through an information and communications network purposely to disparage his/her reputation shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for up to three years or by fine not exceeding 30 million won. <Amended by Act No. 12681, May 28, 2014> (2) A person who commits defamation of another person by disclosing a false fact to the public through an information and communications network purposely to disparage his/her reputation shall be punished by imprisonment with labor for up to seven years, by suspension of qualification for up to ten years, or by fine not exceeding 50 million won. (3) The public prosecution may not prosecute a person who committed a crime under paragraph (1) or (2) against the victim’s will explicitly manifested.[This Article wholly amended by Act No. 9119, Jun. 13, 2008] 【Defendant】Defendant 【Appellant】Defendant 【 Judgment of the court below 】 Seoul Central District Court Decision 2014No2406 decided October 24, 2014 【 Disposition 】 The judgment of the court below is reversed, and the case is remanded to the Seoul Central District Court. 【 Reasoning 】 We examine ex officio the grounds of appeal by the Defendant charged of defamation, which is a violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, Etc. (hereinafter “Act”), or for insulting Goheung County. A. By punishing the offense of defamation or insult according to criminal law, the legal interest the relevant offense is meant to protect is a person’s external reputation, i.e., the social evaluation of a person’s value. Therefore, the State or a local government, as public authorities with the responsibility of and obligation to either protect or realize the fundamental rights of citizens, is not the subject but merely the upholder of fundamental rights. Furthermore, matters pertaining to the State or a local government’s policy decision-making and performance constantly come under broad public scrutiny and criticism, given that the freedom to express such criticism is sufficiently guaranteed for the State or a local government to normally make policy decisions and undergo tasks. Accordingly, in the relationship between the State or a local government and citizens, the former cannot be the subject of external reputation that is protected via means of punishment, and thus, cannot be the victim of defamation or insult. B. On the grounds of its stated reasoning, the lower court determined that the Defendant hurt Goheung County’s reputation and insulted Goheung County by either posting false information or derogatory messages on Goheung County Office’s website for the purpose of slandering Goheung County, and subsequently, upheld the first instance judgment that found the Defendant guilty of both defamation (violation of the Act) and insult among the facts charged in the instant case. However, in light of the legal principles as seen earlier, Goheung County, as a local government, cannot be the victim of defamation or insult. Nevertheless, on the erroneous assumption that a local government can be the victim thereof, the