60-year-old statute outlawing adultery under which violators faced up
to two years in prison. The Guardianreports:
The nine-member bench ruled by seven to two that the 1953 law was
unconstitutional. "Even if adultery should be condemned as immoral,
state power should not intervene in individuals' private lives," said
presiding justice Park Han-Chul. It was the fifth time the apex court
had considered the constitutional legality of the legislation which
had made South Koreaone of the few non-Muslim countries to regard
marital infidelity as a criminal act.
In the past six years, close to 5,500 people have been formerly
arraigned on adultery charges - including nearly 900 in 2014. But the
numbers had been falling, with cases that end in prison terms
increasingly rare.
Whereas 216 people were jailed under the law in 2004, that figure had
dropped to 42 by 2008, and since then only 22 have found themselves
behind bars, according to figures from the state prosecution office.
The downward trend was partly a reflection of changing societal trends
in a country where rapid modernisation has frequently clashed with
traditionally conservative norms.
"Public conceptions of individuals' rights in their s*xual lives have
undergone changes," Park said, as he delivered the court's decision.
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