For the last 62 years, South Koreans could face up to two years in prison if they were found guilty of adultery. This week, the country’s Constitutional Court finally struck down the ban on extramarital sex, which dates back to 1953.
“It should be left to the free will and love of people to decide whether to maintain marriage, and the matter should not be externally forced through a criminal code,” the court’s judges said in a joint statement, according to The New York Times. The court also stated that South Korea’s sexual morals had changed since the 1950s, and that individual rights had outpaced more traditional values. Seven out of nine judges voted for the legalization of adultery, as the BBC reports.
The decision came as a surprise to some because the court had previously ruled against the legalization several times. In 2008, famous actress Ok So-ri sparked outrage when she was given a suspended sentence for adultery. Back then, South Korea’s Constitutional Court narrowly upheld the controversial law.
In total, more than 50,000 South Koreans were indicted for adultery – about 5,500 of them since the court upheld it for the last time in 2008. Now, those who were convicted within the last six years may seek a retrial.
South Korea has long struggled to openly discuss adultery: At one point, women who cheated on their husbands faced societal exclusion, whereas men who were accused of cheating on their wives were often treated much less harshly. However, despite a traditionally prudish attitude to discussing sex, divorces are increasingly common and last year, the government said that 4 percent of South Korea’s GDP was generated by its illegal but popular sex industry.
The future impact of the legalization of adultery remains unclear, but there already seems to be at least one big winner of this week’s court decision: According to The Guardian, the stock value of South Korea’s largest condom manufacturer, Unidus, increased by 15 percent after the news broke.
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