South Korea’s Constitutional Court has thrown
out 60-year-old statute outlawing adultery under
which those found guilty face up to two years in
prison.
The nine-member bench ruled by seven to two
says the 1953 law was unconstitutional in a
judgement handed down on Thursday.
The court held that adultery was a private matter
in which the State should not intervene.
According to the presiding judge, Park Han-Chul
“even if adultery should be condemned as
immoral, state power should not intervene in
individuals’ private lives.”
It was the fifth time the Apex court had
considered the constitutional legality of the
legislation which had made South Korea one 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.
The numbers had been falling, with cases that
end in prison terms increasingly rare.
In 2004, 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.

http://www.channelstv.com/2015/02/26/south-korea-legalises-adultery/