Calculators & Self-ChecksProsecution Request Estimator
Providing or leaking personal information without authorization: statutory penalty and likely requested sentence
The statutory penalty for Providing or leaking personal information without authorization and the likely handling of the case depending on your circumstances. The results are for reference only.
- Statutory penalty
- Up to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to KRW 50 million
- Legal basis
- Personal Information Protection Act, Article 71
- Category
- Cyber · Personal Information Protection Act
Calculate with your own circumstances
What the handling steps mean
- Detention considered · Detention (구속): being held in custody during the investigation and trial under a court warrant when there is a risk of fleeing or destroying evidence
- Formal trial · Formal trial (구공판): the prosecutor asks the court for a trial, and you stand before a judge in a courtroom
- Summary fine · Summary indictment (약식기소): a procedure in which a fine is set on the documents, without a trial in a courtroom
- Suspension of indictment possible · Suspension of indictment (기소유예): the wrongdoing is recognized, but the prosecutor takes various circumstances into account and closes the case without sending it to trial
- Referral to the Family Court possible · Domestic or juvenile protection case: instead of criminal punishment, the Family Court imposes protective dispositions such as counseling, a no-contact order or community service
Handling standards at a glance
Listed from heaviest to lightest. The actual decision depends on the results of the investigation and your circumstances.
Detention considered
- Likely requested sentence
- 1 to 3 years in prison
Formal trial (prison sentence requested)
- Likely requested sentence
- 1 year or more in prison
Summary fine
- Likely fine
- KRW 7 million or more
Notes
- This covers providing information without consent, using it for other purposes, leaking information learned at work, and similar acts.
Frequently asked questions
- Providing or leaking personal information without authorization: what is the statutory penalty?
- Legal basis: Personal Information Protection Act, Article 71. Statutory penalty: Up to 5 years in prison or a fine of up to KRW 50 million.
- Providing or leaking personal information without authorization: how is the case usually handled?
- Depending on the circumstances, it may be handled as follows: Detention considered, Formal trial (prison sentence requested), Summary fine. Enter your circumstances in the calculator above to see which one applies.
Other crimes in the same category
- Defamation through an information and communications network (online defamation)
- Repeatedly sending messages that cause fear or anxiety
- Distributing obscene material online
- Intrusion into an information and communications network
- Damaging another person's information, or infringing or leaking their secrets (other than hacking)
- Collecting other people's information by deception (phishing)
- Illegal wiretapping or recording other people's conversations, and disclosing them
- Secret location tracking (collecting personal location information without consent)
This is only an estimate based on how investigative agencies usually handle cases. The actual decision and request depend on the facts of the case, such as a settlement, prior convictions and how the crime happened, and on the judgment of the prosecutor in charge; the final sentence is decided by the court. If you are about to be questioned, do not rely on this result alone and talk to a lawyer first.
Want to look at your own case more closely?
Send us a message about your situation. A lawyer will review it and reply.
© 2026 JISAN LAW. The question structure, the organisation of the criteria, the result wording and the data on this page are works and a database created by JISAN LAW. Copying, distributing or modifying them, reusing them on other websites or services, or collecting them automatically (scraping) without permission is prohibited. Violations may lead to civil and criminal liability under the Korean Copyright Act and the Unfair Competition Prevention and Trade Secret Protection Act.