South Korea court upholds 55-year jail-for-adultery law
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea's highest court upheld on Thursday a decades-old adultery law that can send people to jail for having an extramarital affair that critics say is anachronistic and infringes on personal freedom.
The fourth appeal made to the Constitutional Court since 1989 was brought by the lawyers for a popular actress who was charged under the law when her TV personality husband filed a criminal complaint against her for having an affair with an opera singer.
"The legal clause does limit an individual's right to sexual freedom and the right to privacy, but does not violate the principle of forbidding excessive measure," the court said in an opinion overturning the appeal.
"This society's legal perception that adultery is damaging to the social order and infringes on another's right continues to be effective," the court said....