South Korea legalizes adultery

South Korea's constitutional court has ruled that a 1953 statute outlawing adultery is unconstitutional.

The court ruled seven to two to abolish the law, violators of which could previously have received up to two years in prison.

"Even if adultery should be condemned as immoral, state power should not intervene in individuals' private lives," presiding Justice Park Han Chul said in court. "Public conceptions of individuals' rights in their sexual lives have undergone changes."

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Thursday's decision marks the fifth time courts have debated the law's constitutionality. Since its last debate in 2008, 22 people have gone to jail under the law, reports The Straits Times.