SEOUL, South Korea A South Korean court today abolished a 62-year-old law that bans extramarital affairs, and the stock price of a prominent condom maker immediately shot up 15 percent.
The ruling by the Constitutional Court that the law suppresses personal freedoms could potentially affect thousands of individuals who faced adultery charges since Oct. 31, 2008, a day after the court previously upheld the adultery ban. Current charges could be thrown out and anyone given a guilty verdict would be eligible for a retrial, according to a court official, who didn't want to be named, citing office rules.
Prosecutors have indicted more than 5,400 people on adultery charges between November 2008 and January this year, according to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.
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 Corp., shot up after the court ruling, surging by the daily limit of 15 percent on South Korea's Kosdaq market.
The 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 conservative traditional values.
