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Court upholds sentence for stalker who sent almost 400 emails in a month

Published: 09 Nov. 2025, 21:12

An image of a statue of Justitia, the Roman goddess of justice [KOREA JOONGANG DAILY]

A person in their 40s who sent hundreds of abusive and threatening emails to an online lecturer's wife after being expelled from the lecturer’s internet community lost their appeal in court, the Chuncheon District Court said on Sunday.

The court rejected the appeal of the 46-year-old defendant and upheld the initial six-month suspended sentence.

Prosecutors indicted the defendant for sending 390 emails filled with profanity and curses over the course of a month — beginning in July last year — to the wife of an online lecturer.

Investigators found that the defendant grew angry after the lecturer removed them from an online community for posting incomprehensible comments.

At first, the defendant directed the abuse directly at the lecturer through phone calls, voice messages, emails and YouTube comments. When the lecturer reported the behavior to the police and blocked the number, the defendant began harassing the lecturer’s wife instead. In the first ruling, the court granted a suspended sentence on the condition of probation.

During the appeal, the defendant claimed that the lecturer had “controlled their consciousness for years” and that the emails were meant as a plea for the aggravation to stop. They also argued that the lecturer “entered their mind” and watched their every move, prompting them to send emails whenever they sensed their presence.

The appellate court dismissed those claims.

“The victim was merely the instructor of a course that the defendant took, and there is no evidence of any personal interaction between them beyond the classes and online community,” the court said. “There is also no evidence that the victim controlled the defendant’s consciousness or harassed them.”

The court added that the contents of the emails consisted almost entirely of insults, not protests of alleged mistreatment.

“The court finds no new circumstances that would affect the sentencing or justify a change in punishment,” the court said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JUNG SI-NAE [[email protected]]