What Is Extortion?
Extortion is the crime of coercing a person into handing over property or providing a financial benefit, and it is set out in Article 350 of the Korean Criminal Act. What people commonly refer to as "shaking someone down" falls squarely within extortion. Typical examples include demanding money by exploiting another person's weakness, or extracting money or valuables by threatening to inflict harm.
Because extortion is carried out through threats, it can look similar to criminal intimidation, but it is distinguished by the fact that its purpose is to obtain a financial benefit. Merely instilling fear amounts to criminal intimidation; instilling fear in order to extract money or property amounts to extortion.
Elements Required to Establish Extortion
First, there must be an act of coercion. An act of coercion means assault or a threat aimed at compelling the handover of property or the provision of a financial benefit. It is enough that it restricts a person's freedom to make decisions; it need not be severe enough to completely suppress the victim's resistance. If the assault or threat is severe enough to suppress resistance, the offense at issue is not extortion but robbery.
Second, the victim must, out of fear, hand over property or provide a financial benefit, and there must be a causal link between the act of coercion and the act of disposition.
Third, there must be intent and an intent to unlawfully appropriate. Even where a legitimate claim exists, the courts have taken the position that exercising that claim through threats exceeding what is socially acceptable can still constitute extortion. You should therefore be aware that simply being owed money does not provide a defense.
Penalties for Extortion
Under Article 350 of the Korean Criminal Act, extortion is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years or a criminal fine of up to KRW 20 million. This is a serious statutory penalty, on the same level as fraud.
Where the extortion is committed by displaying the collective force of a group or a crowd, or while carrying a dangerous object, the offense of special extortion (특수공갈죄) under Article 350-2 of the Korean Criminal Act applies, carrying an aggravated penalty of imprisonment for not less than 1 year and not more than 15 years. Because there is no option of a fine, it is difficult to avoid a prison sentence once the charge is established.
In addition, under Article 352 of the Korean Criminal Act, attempted extortion is also punishable. This means that even if no money is actually received, a person becomes subject to punishment once they have set about committing the act of coercion.
Common Situations Where Extortion Becomes an Issue
Cases that frequently arise in practice include demanding money by threatening to expose someone's affair or misconduct, demanding excessive refunds or compensation by threatening to post malicious reviews online, and demanding money or valuables from a junior by abusing one's position at school or work.
In particular, even conduct that appears to be a legitimate exercise of one's rights can be charged as extortion if the means used amount to a threat. As a result, accurately determining the boundary between exercising a right and committing extortion often becomes the central issue in a case.
Why You Need the Help of a Criminal Defense Attorney
Extortion cases involve complex legal issues, such as drawing the line against criminal intimidation, robbery, and fraud, determining whether the exercise of a right was legitimate, and assessing the degree of the threatened harm. Because the same set of facts can lead either to an acquittal or to a heavy sentence depending on how the legal arguments are framed, it is more important than anything else to work with a criminal defense attorney from the early stages of the investigation to develop your strategy for testimony and for responding to the evidence.
