Adultery has been against the law in South Korea since 1953. That ended this week when a panel of judges released a decision saying, “The law infringes people's right to make their own decisions on sex and secrecy and freedom of their private life.”
The court goes on to say "even if adultery should be condemned as immoral, state power should not intervene in individuals' private lives." Reuters reports the law didn't have a lot of teeth.
There were nearly 900 indictments for adultery in the nation in 2014. Not a single person spent a night in jail despite a potential sentence of two years. The decision was an immediate boon to specific businesses. Condom stocks rose 15 percent while the shares in the "Morning After" pill rose 10 percent.
AP reports more than 5,000 people have been found guilty of the crime over the past six years. Many of those may now have those verdicts vacated.
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