Condom Sales Up By 15% As South Korea Decriminalises Adultery

Decriminalising sex, an act that sends chill down the spine of many people.

Many governments around the world are against the same, but some countries have opted for the choice, with South Korea jumping on the infamous bandwagon.

The law against adultery in this Asian nation was accepted in 1953 and was even upheld in 2008 with protecting social harmony given as the reason.

Now one might wonder what the after-effect of such a move might be. Well, to start with, stocks of one of South Korea’s condom company increased by 15%. That’s valid!

The nine-judge panel that preceded the hearing contained seven members who rejected the ban as unconstitutional.

Seo Ki-seok, Constitutional Court justice, in defence if the judgement passed by them said, “The law is unconstitutional as it infringes people’s right to make their own decisions on sex and secrecy and freedom of their private life, violating the principle banning excessive enforcement under the constitution”.

With shares of Unidus Corp, a condom manufacturing company, soaring by 15%, it is evident that the locals have taken the news within their stride.

When it comes to adultery in South Korea, the last five years have seen over 5,000 people accused. In 2014 alone, 900 individuals were arraigned of infidelity.

Justice Park Han-Chul, who also presided the meeting, justifies the aforementioned statistic in his own way. “Even if adultery should be condemned as immoral, state power should not intervene in individuals’ private lives”, Park said.

April 2014 saw South Korea blocking a newly launched hook-up site citing the website threatened family values as the reason. Now, with sex being decriminalised, could the website go live again? Only time will tell that.

Besides South Korea, Japan is another country where sex is decriminalised. In mainland China, though infidelity is not a crime, it is surely a ground for divorce.

The Indian subcontinent has a weird law in regards with adultery; where men face penalty for adultery (five years imprisonment), women cannot be prosecuted for the same crime.

Europe is the only continent where adultery is no longer an offence.

The statute had defenders in South Korea, who claimed that decriminalising sex would lead to sexual immorality.