South Korea abolishes law on adultery

A South Korean court has abolished a 62-year-old law that criminalised extramarital affairs, and the stock price of a prominent condom maker immediately shot up 15%.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling that the law suppressed personal freedoms could affect many of the more than 5,400 people who have been charged with adultery since 2008, when the court earlier upheld the legislation, according to court law.

Any current charges against those people could be thrown out and those who have received guilty verdicts will be eligible for retrials, according to a court official, citing office rules.

Under the law, having sex with a married person who is not your spouse was punishable by up to two years in prison. Nearly 53,000 South Koreans have been indicted on adultery charges since 1985, but prison terms have been rare.

The stock price of South Korean condom maker Unidus shot up after the court ruling, surging by the daily limit of 15% on South Korea’s Kosdaq market.

Debate over the adultery ban, which has been part of South Korea’s criminal law since 1953, intensified in recent years as fast-changing social trends challenged traditional values.

Supporters of the law said it promoted monogamy and kept families intact, while opponents argued that the government had no right to interfere in people’s private lives and sexual affairs.

The court was acting on 17 complaints from 2009 to 2014 by people who had been charged under the law.