Court votes ban on serving in public office for possession of child pornography unconstitutional

Constitutional court on Tuesday. [YONHAP]

The constitutional court concluded that it is unfair to ban a person from ever getting a job in public service simply for being convicted of possession of child pornography.

The constitutional court on Thursday deemed the articles that stipulate that a person can be dismissed when committing sexual crimes against minors under the State Public Officials Act and Local Public Officials Act unconstitutional.

The decision was an overwhelming majority with a six-to-two vote.

The constitutional court concluded that the current penalty prevents a person from all public service offices, including those that are not related to minors.

The justices said the ban violates the constitution, which upholds the rights of every citizen to hold public office.

The two judges in favor of the ban argued that allowing a person who has committed the crime of possessing child pornography to work in public office will hurt the public’s trust in public servants overall.

The judges added that the possibility of a person repeating the same offense is relatively high and it is hard to recover the public’s trust once it is broken.

The constitutional court gave a grace period in upholding the existing ban until the end of May next year. This is to allow some time for the related legislation to be updated.

The case was brought to the constitutional court by a person who was slapped with a 7 million won fine and 40 hours in a sex violence rehabilitation program in June last year for downloading child pornography from the internet. The person was preparing to take the public servant exam.

Under the Youth Protection Act, those involved in the production or distribution of child pornography are sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison. However, a person who only possesses explicit materials involving minors is sentenced to a maximum of one year or a fine of 20 million won or less.

The constitutional court made a similar decision on those convicted of sexual abuse against minors in November. While six justices deemed the penalty unconstitutional, three said otherwise.

However, like the recent case, the law will be upheld until the end of May next year.

BY LEE HO-JEONG [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]