As the incidents where impersonating others by phone or on social media websites continue to occur, leading to property damage or defamation, it is now urgent to formulate countermeasures to such acts.
However, it is difficult to apply the current law to an act of impersonating others in the information communications network, and criminal and civil actions are available only when secondary damage occurs. Since the crime of defamation in the information communications network under the “Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, Etc.” and the crime of fraud under the “Criminal Act” are applicable only where there is a defamatory act and fraudulent act, respectively, false impersonation itself cannot be punished. In addition, personal information controllers or information and communications services who collect and use personal information without obtaining consent may be punished pursuant to the “Personal Information Protection Act” and the “Act of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, Etc., but as these “personal information controllers” and “information and communications services” mean those who process personal information for business purpose or profit, those who are subject to application thereof are limited.
However, some point out that even in the absence of any secondary damage, the false impersonation of others in the information and communication network itself constitutes a violation of the victim's personal rights, and since it may adversely affect the victim's credibility and interpersonal relations and sew distrust in cyberspace, it needs to be prescribed as a crime. In fact, penalty provisions for false impersonation of others have been newly inserted in the United States and Canada for these reasons.
The Amendment aims to set out the act itself of false impersonation of another person’s name, title, photograph, video image, or status without the consent of the relevant person as a crime, to punish the person who has committed this crime of false impersonation by imprisonment with labor for up to one year or by fine of up to 10 million won, to prevent any damage caused by false impersonation of others in the information and communications network by prescribing the said act as a crime not punishable against the victim's will that cannot be prosecuted against the explicit will of the victim, and to prevent secondary damage such as fraud and defamation (Article 44-7 (1) 6-4 and Article 74 (1) 3-2 newly inserted).

Newly insert subparagraph 6-4 to Article 44-7 (1) as follows and set “subparagraphs 6-2 and 6-3” in the main body of paragraph 2 in the same Article to extend and include “subparagraphs 6-2 through 6-4.”
6-4 Information on false impersonation of another person’s name, title, photograph, video image, or status without the consent of the relevant person.