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Wedding rings
South Korea's Constitutional Court struck down a
half-century-old criminal code provision that made it illegal to
promise to marry a woman in return for sex.
The court said the code violated women's constitutional right to
sexual freedom and the state must refrain from interfering in such
personal matters.
The plaintiffs, two men who brought the appeal against criminal
convictions, argued that premarital sex should be a personal and
moral issue and not subject to prosecution.
The criminal code provides for up to two years in jail or five
million won ($5,982) in fines for anyone who engages in illicit
intercourse with womenfolk who does not otherwise habitually engage
in lewd conduct with the pretence of marrying her.
Some rights groups have said the 56-year-old provision aimed at
protecting women is anachronistic and views women as
inferior.
The same court upheld a provision in the criminal code last year
that made extramarital sex illegal, saying it was not excessive
punishment because the society still viewed such conduct as
improper.
