Kindergarten Principal Files Lawsuit Using Parent's Information... Supreme Court: "Not Subject to Criminal Punishment"

"Stating Personal Information in the Petition Does Not Violate Social Norms"

The Supreme Court has ruled that a kindergarten principal who submitted previously collected personal information in a lawsuit petition without parental consent, in order to file a defamation suit, is not subject to criminal punishment.

Supreme Court, Seocho-gu, Seoul. Photo by Yonhap News

According to the legal community on July 1, the Supreme Court's Second Division (Presiding Justice Park Youngjae) recently overturned a lower court ruling that had fined Principal A 500,000 won for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, and remanded the case to Uijeongbu District Court.

Principal A was put on trial for using the personal information of Parent B—who was a kindergarten parent in June 2022—without consent when filing a damages claim for defamation. The information used, such as B's name and address, had been collected and stored in March 2021 when B's child entered the kindergarten, originally for purposes such as applying for early childhood tuition support.

The lower courts had previously found Principal A guilty. The trial judges stated, "It is difficult to consider this as an act within the scope of the original collection purpose, and there were legitimate alternative means, such as a court inquiry." However, the appellate court accepted the argument that the initial sentence was excessive and reduced the fine from 1 million won to 500,000 won.

However, the Supreme Court did not accept this. The court ruled, "There is sufficient room to consider that Principal A's actions do not violate social norms as stipulated in Article 20 of the Criminal Act," and added, "The defendant lawfully obtained B's name and address with B's consent, and there were no illegal acts or infringement of other legal interests in the process." The court further stated, "Although the information in question is personal data, it does not constitute sensitive information that would pose a significant risk of invading privacy."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.