Legalized adultery vs. criminalized prostitution

By Park Moo-jong

The Seventh Commandment says: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

The "sin" of adultery dates back to 18 B.C. when Emperor Augustus of Rome proclaimed it a crime punishable by exile and confiscation of property.

Fathers were permitted to kill daughters and their partners for adultery. Augustus himself was obliged to invoke the law against his own offspring, Julia, sending her to a remote island.

This is a story of a long, long time ago. Nevertheless, this "sin" has been committed throughout history despite sometimes harsh criminal punishment.

Adultery has been regarded merely as an act of repudiating one's marriage vows and is much more common than we would like to admit.

Someone found guilty of cheating on their spouse in Korea could have faced up to two years in jail under a law that was enacted in 1953, setting aside civil suits.

Yet, times have changed. Today, it's none of our business what people do in private. What people do in their own bedrooms is not the business of the state.

Finally after 62 years, South Korea "legalized" adultery by lifting the ban on extramarital sex as most nations have done.

The Constitutional Court found criminalizing adultery was unconstitutional and admitted in its ruling that South Korea's sexual mores had changed since the 1950s, and that individual rights had outpaced more traditional values.

Seven of the nine judges found the law unconstitutional, saying that "it should be left to the free will and love of people to decide whether to maintain their marriage, and the matter should not be externally forced through the criminal code."

Compared to the rapid changes in lifestyle and ways of thinking over the decades, the abolition of the anti-adultery law has come late.

In short, treating adultery as a crime was a way for the state to legally interfere with individual privacy.

The "revolutionary" judgment in South Korea made headlines worldwide.

But I feel somewhat ashamed about a report by the Washington Post: "The future impact of the legalization of adultery remains unclear, but there already seems to be at least one big winner of the court decision."

Quoting the Guardian, it reported that, "The stock value of South Korea's largest condom manufacturer, Unidus, increased by 15 percent after the news broke."

By the way, the law against adultery was losing its strength in contrast with the tough "Special Law on Prostitution" that punishes the "johns" with imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 3 million won ($2,800), not to mention sanctioning those who offer sex for money.

As the court found the anti-adultery law unconstitutional on the grounds of the people's free will and decisions about sex, the fate of the Special Law on Prostitution has now become a matter of great interest.

It is a well-known fact that more than 4 percent of the nation's GDP is generated by the "illegal" but popular sex industry.

The reality is that the sex business is flourishing across the nation, producing numerous "adulterers" and making the law seem like a meaningless scrap of paper.

Adding salt to the wound, the sex industry is prosperous with its styles ever diversifying and increasingly going underground, especially owing to SNS, or social network services, which some jokingly refer to as "sex network services."

Red-light districts across the nation disappeared following the enactment of the Special Law on Prostitution in 2004, which was based on a previous decades-long law on the prevention of prostitution.

But the number of hidden prostitution businesses is sharply increasing. The Korea Times reported in December, quoting a police officer that said "they spring up everywhere, even on wide-open streets, or on the corner of residential areas."

The current anti-prostitution law is awaiting a review by the Constitution Court after the Seoul Northern District Court asked for an unconstitutionality judgment two years ago on Article 21 of the law, stipulating a punishment of up to one year or a fine of up to 3 million won for those who buy sex.

The court filed the suit, claiming that sex between adults that is neither forced nor extorted should be left to the decision of the individual, and the state should not intervene in the issue. It also said that the law does not reflect changing social values.

"It is not proper (for the state) to criminally punish people who buy sex of their own free will," it said.

The Constitutional Court dropped similar suits filed by individuals in 2004, 2008 and 2010.

Prostitution is sometimes referred to as the world's oldest profession. Estimates place the annual revenue generated by prostitution worldwide at more than $100 billion, according to Wikipedia.

Most Western European countries, such as the Netherlands and Germany to name just two, do not regard prostitution as a crime and thus do not crack down on prostitutes. Many of them legalize prostitution and have sex workers pay taxes.

Instead, the authorities protect their human rights and health, while heavily punishing human traffickers and pimps who exploit their "slaves."

Statistics show that sex workers of today are mostly doing it for money.

Times are changing. We have to think sincerely why these advanced countries with long histories do not criminalize the oldest profession in the world.

Park Moo-jong is The Korea Times advisor. Contact the writer at moojong@ktimes.co.kr.