Off the wire
• 3 killed in drug-related shooting in Houston  • Singapore's manufacturing output up 0.9 pct in January  • S. Korea's household debts rise 6.6 pct in 2014  • Hong Kong stocks close higher by midday  • Gold price opens lower in Hong Kong  • Singpore's former PM Lee Kuan Yew still in ICU for severe pneumonia  • Business leaders call for closer New Zealand-Australia integration  • UN slams kidnapping of Assyrians by IS in northern Syria  • Canadians expect to work beyond 65: survey  • Roundup: Maldives' tourism industry faces challenges as Chinese tourists decline  
You are here: 　 Home

S. Korea rules adultery punishment as unconstitutional

Xinhua, February 26, 2015 Adjust font size:

South Korea's constitutional court said on Thursday that the criminal punishment for adultery is unconstitutional, abolishing the adultery law in 62 years since it was enacted.

Seven out of nine constitutional judges ruled in favor of repealing the law, saying punishing those who have affairs while being married equals to infringement on people's basic rights.

About 5,000 people are expected to be relieved as they have been prosecuted or got a prison term for adultery since Oct. 31, 2008, when the highest court ruled the adultery law constitutional.

The court ruled it constitutional four times from 1990 to 2008, citing various reasons such as protecting women, maintaining public order and securing family life.

Critics demanded that the law be abolished, which they blamed for infringing on people's self-determination rights to life and violates people's privacy.

The adultery law, enacted in 1953, made those who have extramarital affairs face a jail term of up to two years. Partners were also sentenced to up to two years in prison. Endi