An employee of a state-run company who recorded his boss swearing loudly inside the office has been cleared of criminal charges, a local court said Monday.

The 35-year-old defendant had been accused of violating the Protection of Communications Secrets Act, which bans anyone from recording or listening to a conversation of other people that was not public. The boss in question claimed that the recording was a private conversation with a specific employee, who was not the defendant.

The prosecution requested a one-year prison term for the defendant, but the court said the boss's speech appears to have been made to everyone in the office.

"Based on the evidence the prosecution presented, it cannot be said that the defendant is an unrelated party in this conversation. And based on the testimonies, we cannot trust the validity of the victim's claim that he was 'just speaking to a specific employee,'" the court said in its ruling.

The defendant, who had difficulties because of his boss's frequent swearing inside the office, recorded the boss loudly making critical remarks about higher-ups, who were not present, in the office in December 2021. He filed a complaint to the company's human resources and presented the recording as evidence.