A South Korean netizen was fined 1.5 million won Thursday for posting political lampoons on the Internet in the run-up to last April's general elections.

In its ruling, the Seoul Central District Court said that the defendant, identified only by his surname Shin, was guilty of violating the Election Law because he had tried to influence the result of the election with his online lampooning of a certain political party.

In his defense, the accused claimed the Court was improperly judging his case within a narrow definition of the Election Law that did not give due consideration to the freedom of speech and expression. Shin said that he would appeal the verdict.

The case marks the first such ruling against online posting of political parodies.