Seoul: The Supreme Court upheld a ruling that ordered a pastor to pay a fine of 500,000 won (US$362.52) for exposing and denouncing the sexual orientation of an individual without consent, judicial officials said Friday. The church pastor, surnamed Seo, was indicted on defamation charges for revealing that the victim, a university student, was in a polyamorous relationship, while attaching a link to an article with the victim’s real name and photo on his webpage in 2018.

According to Yonhap News Agency, in the post, the pastor reportedly wrote, “there is something called a universal moral value in this world,” and “not all actions by minorities are protected,” in an apparent attempt to degrade the victim for their sexual orientation. The district court acquitted the pastor of the charges, but the appeals court sentenced him to a fine of 500,000 won, saying his writings repeatedly stressed the victim’s sexual orientation as “wrongful,” and were written with the motive of “disparaging the victim.”

The Supreme
Court upheld the lower court’s ruling, saying it is a “grave violation” of moral rights in itself to publicize something belonging to the inner, private life of the victim together with their personal information. “By revealing the victim’s sexual orientation, which is far from being in the public interest, the defendant uploaded the article in order to degrade the social assessment of the victim, who has differing values from those of the defendant and certain social groups,” the court said.