Up to 10 Years in Prison for Fatal Assault on Emergency Medical Staff... Deepfake Guidelines Also Established

5 to 10 Years in Prison for Aggravated Cases Resulting in Death of Medical Personnel

Yonhap News Agency

Sentencing guidelines have been established recommending up to a maximum of five years in prison in cases of serious crimes that obstruct emergency medical services, rescue, or first aid activities. Guidelines for the sentencing of crimes involving the possession or viewing of deepfake sexual exploitation materials will also be developed in the future.

The Sentencing Commission of the Supreme Court (chaired by Lee Dongwon) announced on the 11th that it held its 147th plenary meeting on the 10th, during which it deliberated proposed amendments to the sentencing guidelines for digital sex crimes and plans for setting new guidelines for crimes obstructing emergency medical services, rescue, or first aid. Sentencing guidelines refer to the ranges for recommended sentences that the Supreme Court sets for each type of crime and serve as a kind of reference for judges when making rulings. Although not legally binding, they have the effect of recommendations.

The Commission established sentencing guidelines for crimes obstructing emergency medical services. Crimes that interfere with the work of emergency medical professionals, ambulance operations, rescue or transfer-related treatment, and others (Article 60-2, Paragraph 1 of the Emergency Medical Service Act), are now subject to recommended sentences of six months to one year and six months in prison. If mitigating circumstances exist, the recommended sentence is up to eight months in prison, while in the case of aggravating circumstances, one to four years in prison is recommended.

If there are numerous special aggravating factors, the upper limit of the recommended sentence range can be increased by up to half (special adjustment). Through this special adjustment, a sentence of up to the legal maximum of five years in prison can be imposed for crimes obstructing emergency medical services. In cases where violence against emergency medical service personnel results in injury, the recommended sentence is four months to one year (mitigated), six months to two years (standard), and one year and six months to four years (aggravated). If death occurs, the recommended sentence is two years and six months to four years (mitigated), three to six years (standard), and five to ten years (aggravated).

Crimes that interfere with firefighting, rescue, or first aid activities by fire crews—such as obstructing fire suppression or rescues—are also subject to the same sentencing guidelines as those for crimes obstructing emergency medical services (mitigated: up to eight months; standard: six months to one year and six months; aggravated: one to four years). The Commission stated, "In consideration of the urgent and critical nature of emergency medical service interference, and the high social value of protecting such work for the public, we have set guidelines based on the crime group of obstruction of official duties, which shares similar statutory penalties, types, and severity of crime, while also referring to the guidelines for crimes such as making official materials ineffective and property damage."

Regarding sentencing factors for crimes obstructing emergency medical services, the Commission commented, "It is necessary to motivate offenders to make restitution in order to facilitate the prompt and smooth recovery of emergency medical personnel and others." Thus, a victim’s 'no intention to punish or substantial restitution' will be considered a special mitigating factor. The Commission also included recently established categories of crimes in its digital sex crime sentencing guidelines—such as threats or coercion to a child or adolescent involving sexual exploitation materials (Article 11-2 of the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents against Sexual Abuse), conversations with children or adolescents for sexual exploitation (Article 15-2), and the possession or viewing of false videos (deepfakes, Article 14-2, Paragraph 4 of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act).

Classification types will be divided into two main categories based on applicable laws: digital sex crimes under the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents against Sexual Abuse, and those under the Sexual Violence Punishment Act. Each statute will then define medium subtypes. At this meeting, the Commission discussed the range of crimes to be covered and the classification of types for digital sex crimes; specific sentencing ranges and factors will be discussed in the future. The next (148th) meeting will be held on September 21, at which time the Commission plans to deliberate on revised sentencing guidelines for crimes of death or injury by negligence, industrial safety and health offenses, and traffic offenses.

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