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S. Korea’s adultery law ruling brings attention to accused celebrities

February 27, 2015

The Constitutional Court’s decision on Thursday to abolish the country’s 62-year-old anti-adultery law has drawn attention to celebrities entangled in adultery cases. (Yonhap)

By Kim Se-jeong

The Constitutional Court’s decision on Thursday to abolish the country’s 62-year-old anti-adultery law has drawn attention to celebrities entangled in adultery cases.

TV celebrity Tak Jae-hoon was charged with adultery earlier this month. His wife Lee Hyo-rim sued him for committing adultery with three other women. Tak allegedly traveled abroad with them on vacation, spending millions of won in the process. The adultery charge against him was annulled after the court’s decision Thursday.

However, his wife also filed a civil suit seeking 50 million ($45,000) from each woman which is still valid.

MBC news anchor Kim Ju-ha also saw adultery charges against her ex-husband dismissed after Thursday’s decision. She sued her husband for having a child through an extramarital affair and can still seek compensation in a civil suit.

Before its abolishment, Actress Ok So-ri brought a great deal of media attention to the adultery law.

She was sued by her actor husband Park Chul in 2007, who accused her of extramarital affairs with a singer and a chef. In 2012, Ok was sentenced to an eight-month suspended prison term for adultery. She challenged the anti-cheating law, claiming she has the right to love a man of her choice and punishing her for adultery would deprive her of that right.

Actress Hwang Soo-jeong was also accused of adultery in 2001, but was not punished after the accuser dropped the case.

The first adultery case involving celebrities was in 1960 involving actor Choi Moo-ryong and actress Kim Ji-mi. The couple were in a relationship outside of marriage. In 1970, a local TV station famously aired video footage of the well-known actress Chung Yoon-hui in a jail cell for committing adultery.