Korean adulterer faces jail term

Ms Ok said the law violated her right to choose her relationships
South Korean prosecutors have demanded an 18-month jail term for a
popular actress who admitted breaking the country's strict laws on
adultery.

Ok So-ri had sought to overturn the 50-year old legislation, which
carries a maximum jail sentence of two years.

She said it was an infringement of human rights and amounted to
revenge.

But in October the constitutional court ruled for the fourth time
that adultery must remain a crime, saying it was damaging to social
order.

Ms Ok has admitted having an affair with a well-known pop singer and
her husband, Park Chul, is said to be seeking "a severe sentence".
'Loveless marriage'

She blamed her infidelity on a loveless marriage to Mr Park, also an
actor, and launched a legal challenge against the adultery law
itself.

But the court ruled that the adultery law did not violate the right
to "sexual self-determination and privacy" and that the available
punishment was appropriate.

"Society still recognises that adultery damages social order," said
the court.

"The punishment of a two-year jail term is not excessive when
comparing it to responsibility."

Ms Ok's lawyers have said the legislation "has degenerated into a
means of revenge by the spouse, rather than a means of saving a
marriage".

The Korean Times says that in the past three years about 1,200 people
have been indicted annually for adultery, but very few have been
jailed.

The case has created a sensation in South Korea, say correspondents,
where many have denounced what they see as an archaic law.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7750538.stm