By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
Judge Do Jin-ki Sunday appealed to the nation’s top court that punishment on adultery can be seen as the violation of the constitution, citing human nature and the right to choose sex partners.
In a review of an adultery case between a married man and a single woman, the judge made the petition, claiming that ``Criminal Law Clause 241,’’ which is applied to cases of adultery, is unconstitutional.
``The rights to choose sex partners should be protected as a personal right and the right to pursue happiness, which are now guaranteed by the Constitution.
Regulating adultery as a crime may be a challenge to the Constitution, Do said in a written petition.
``Sex is a natural human desire and it is inappropriate to restrict it by law.’’
The top court has rejected three previous appeals against the adultery law made in 1990, 1993 and 2000.
Current law punishes an adulterer or adulteress with a maximum two-year prison sentence.
According to Time magazine, about 65 percent of Korean married men had dated other women after they married and 41 percent of women had dated other men.
In a survery on 3,857 adults nationwide on adultery issues by Hankyoreh 21, local weekly magazine, 42 percent of married men said that they had dated other women and 20 percent of women had dated other men. Also, nearly 68 percent of men and 12 percent of women said they had sex out of marriage.
kswho@koreatimes.co.kr
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