“reputation,” as the benefit and protection of the law related to crimes against reputation, refers to the social assessment given by others with regard to a person’s character (see e.g., Supreme Court Decision 88Do1008, Sept. 27, 1988), and various Special Acts regulate infringement thereon in addition to the Criminal Act to protect reputation through criminal sanctions as such personal value, but each regulation requires publicity as the modality of an act of criminal defamation as follows. Article 307(1) of the Criminal Act stipulates that “a person who defames another by publicly alleging facts shall be punished”; Article 70(1) of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc. (hereinafter “Information and Communications Network Act”) prescribes that “a person who commits defamation of another person by disclosing a fact to the public through an information and communications network purposely to disparage the reputation of such person shall be punished”; and Article 251 of the Public Official Election Act provides that “any person who slanders a candidate by pointing out any fact openly through a speech, broadcast, newspaper, communication, magazine, poster, propaganda document, or other means, with the intention of getting elected, or getting another person to be or not to be elected, shall be punished.” In addition, Article 307(2) of the Criminal Act stipulates that “a person who defames another by publicly alleging false facts shall be punished” and Article 308 of the Criminal Act prescribes that “a person who defames a dead person by publicly alleging false facts shall be punished,” by which publicity is regarded as a constituent element. On the other hand, Article 309 of the Criminal Act stipulates that “a person who commits the crime of Article 307 (1), by means of newspaper, magazine, radio, or other publication with intent to defame another, shall be punished,” by which publicity is not necessary for an act of alleging facts even in the case of defamation through printed materials, etc. The information and Communications Network Act stipulates that: the victim of such violation may request the provider of information and communications services managing the information to delete the information and the said provider of information and communications services shall delete the information or take a temporary or any other necessary measure where information provided through an information and communications network purposely to be made public defames other persons (Article 44-2(1) and (2) of the Information and Communications Network Act); the distribution of “information with content that defames other persons by divulging a fact or false