WorldFun Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 Seems Thailand is quite liberal towards adultery or should we like to take a more practical approach to 'revenge' more so than South Korea Surprised me big time! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7786985.stm "One of South Korea's best-known actresses, Ok So-ri, has been given a suspended prison sentence of eight months for adultery. She admitted the offence and the court suspended the sentence for two years. The trial took place after Ms Ok failed to get the constitutional court to overturn the strict law that makes adultery a criminal offence. In her petition she said the law was an infringement of human rights and amounted to revenge. According to the BBC correspondent in Seoul, John Sudworth, the scandal has kept South Korea's tabloid newspapers and internet chatrooms buzzing for months. 'Damaging to social order' South Korea is one of the few remaining non-Muslim countries where adultery remains a criminal offence. THE ANTI-ADULTERY LAW Enacted in 1953; initially applied only to married women Constitutional Court upheld the law in 1990, 1993, 2001 and 2008 But the judges' support for the law has gradually declined. The law's repeal would require backing of six of the court's nine judges - in the last case, five judges backed its repeal Hundreds of people are charged under the law every year, but only a few dozen are jailed Supporters of the law claim adultery undermines the social order, and say the law protects women's rights in marriage Its opponents claim the law is often abused as a means of revenge or securing greater financial divorce settlements; and say in reality those who suffer under the law are most often women A person found guilty of adultery can be jailed for up to two years. More than 1,000 people are charged each year, although, as in this case, very few are actually sent to jail. The law has been challenged four times, but the country's top judges have always ruled that adultery is damaging to social order, and the offence should therefore remain a crime. In this case, Ms Ok was sued by her former husband, Park Chul. She admitted having an affair with a well-known pop singer, and blamed it on a loveless marriage to Mr Park. The 40-year-old actress sought to have the adultery ban ruled an inconstitutional invasion of privacy, and in a petition to the Constitutional Court, her lawyers claimed the law had "degenerated into a means of revenge by the spouse, rather than a means of saving a marriage". But the adultery ban was upheld, and judges in Seoul have now given her an eight-month suspended sentence, and her lover a six-month suspended term. "I would like to say I'm sorry for stirring up such a controversy," Ms Ok said after the court judgement. According to a survey carried out last year, nearly 68% of South Korean men and 12% of women confess to having sex outside marriage." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drogon Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 Yes read this news too. My Korean blood fully approves this court judgement as married Korean women can't be let fooling around as it would destroy the structure of the Korean society. (irony inside) Doesn't suprise me coming from Korea. This said, I don't agree either with the western custom of "cheating".... IMO why get married if it is to start cheating... you either decide you want to sample as many women/men's delights as you want or to be a faithful husband/wife.... I don't approve the Korean judges but don't approve either cheating on your wife/husband.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WorldFun Posted December 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 fair enough - think my view is somewhere in the middle thus I'm allowed to post on thai360 occasionally even in trip reports or expat nightlife Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chelseafan Posted December 17, 2008 Report Share Posted December 17, 2008 Yes read this news too. My Korean blood fully approves this court judgement as married Korean women can't be let fooling around as it would destroy the structure of the Korean society. (irony inside) Doesn't suprise me coming from Korea. This said, I don't agree either with the western custom of "cheating".... IMO why get married if it is to start cheating... you either decide you want to sample as many women/men's delights as you want or to be a faithful husband/wife.... I don't approve the Korean judges but don't approve either cheating on your wife/husband.... Thats a very naive viewpoint, she probably married him because she loved him and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him however the marriage fell apart as it became loveless. Do you stay in the marriage until death or do something about it ? As I understand it, divorce is still very much frowned upon in Korea, loosing face...blah blah.... Does the same apply to men who stray ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 The report said the adultery law in SK at first applied only to WIVES. That sounds like Thailand. In the late 1980s a female MP proposed changing Thailand's adultery law to allow wives to divorce their husbands for adultery, instead of just the other way around. An assortment of male MPs rose on the floor to denounce her, calling her a homewrecker and worse. The newspapers had fun pointing out the protesters all had numerous mia nois. The change was never made, and as far as I know it is still only men who can divorce their wives for fooling around in LOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger77 Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 For the situation in Korea here is my 2 cents. It is used to threaten and used for revenge plain and simple. In most Korean's viewpoint, the mistress is seen as the one at fault. (Not so much the husband) No matter the circumstances, the wife is seen as the poor lady that has been wronged by the mistress. Usually threats of hiring a lawyer and reporting it to the police ensue. This causes serious fear in the mistress and thus ends the forbidden relationship. The husband will be forgiven and told not to fall under the "love spell" of young attractive women. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faustian Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Good lord! What bizarre thinking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Up until about 15 yeaars ago, Brazil had a legal solution for cheating wives. TH New york Times Headliners; On Their Honor Published: March 31, 1991 In fact if not exactly in law, adultery in Brazil has long been punishable by death -- provided the offender was a woman. But that state of affairs apparently came to an end with a recent ruling by the Brazilian Supreme Court that outlawed "defense of honor" as a justification for murder. Over the years, thousands of men on trial for killing wives accused of adultery have been acquitted on the ground that their honor was jeopardized by the wife's behavior. One study showed that over a two-year period, 722 men used the honor defense in Sao Paulo State alone. The Supreme Court's ruling asserted that "homicide cannot be seen as a normal and legitimate way of reacting to adultery" and said that in such instances, "what is defended is not honor but vanity, exaggerated self-importance." Jacqueline Pitanguy, a Brazilian women's rights advocate and a leader of the campaign to outlaw the honor defense, said the decision reflected "a victory of the women's movement in the political game." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 In her petition she said the law was an infringement of human rights and amounted to revenge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drogon Posted December 18, 2008 Report Share Posted December 18, 2008 Chelseafan: Maybe you didn't read my post correctly -> I said there was some "irony" inside Korean society (and the judgement) is the reflect of a still patriarcal society (very much like Japan and other Asian countries) where the woman has a lower status -> a bit like a child who can't make decision by herself. (and no I am not a feminist at all). The judgement and the law from which it comes, if it had been an objective one, would have forbidden the women from "extra marrital infidelity" but also the men... My view of the marriage: You are right on this, I am very naive as I think that if you get married then this is for life. I have seen too many marriages going wrong especially when there were children and witnessed the consequences.... If not in a happy marriage -> you divorce. (of course divorce has a huge stigma in Korean society for women, a bit similar to Thailand some years ago). Yes, I am naive when it comes to marriage but as much as people getting married to then cheat a few months later or divorce 8 months later.... In the west, if you don't feel ready to get married then you can live in cohabitation in some countries which gives you the same rights. "humand rights": don't give anyone the right to cheat -> so why not divorce if it is going so wrong.... Hypocrisy of modern society in both respects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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