A 40-year-old man who sent sexual messages to a 10-year-old girl via internet chat has been found guilty.

A 40-year-old man who sent sexual messages to a 10-year-old girl via internet chat has been found guilty of sexual exploitation.

The Second Division of the Supreme Court (Chief Justice Kwon Young-joon) on June 13 upheld the original ruling, which sentenced Kim (40), who was charged with violating the Act on the Protection of Sexuality of Children and Adolescents (talking for sexual exploitation, etc.), to two years in prison and three years of probation.

According to the court, Kim was charged in January 2022 with emotionally abusing and harassing the victim, a primary school student, by sending messages that could cause sexual embarrassment via the application chat a total of 45 times.

He kept referring to the victim as “kiss” or “marriage” and sent several messages that could be interpreted sexually, such as “I get turned on when ○○ uses honorifics” and “From now on it’s my property.” He also asked them to send him a photo of the kiss or write a marriage vow.

The court of first instance sentenced Kim to one and a half years in prison and three years probation for only admitting child abuse. The court of second instance found Kim guilty on all charges and increased the sentence to two years in prison and three years probation.

Kim objected, but the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, saying: “There was no error in misunderstanding the legal principles regarding the finding of violation of the Law on the Protection of Minors (conversations for the purpose of sexual exploitation, etc.) in the original judgment.”