South Korea‘s decriminalisation of adultery earlier this year has seen the rise of a new market in online dating, one that helps you cheat on your spouse.
Since 1953, adultery has been illegal in Korea and committing such an act could result in going to prison, but this year this law was abolished.
“Even if adultery should be condemned as an immoral act, state powers should not intervene in an individual’s private life.”
– Park Han-Chul, presiding justice
The decriminalisation of adultery seems very fair and logical and can only mean South Korea is continuing to become more and more progressive with time as we have seen their infamous value and of rigid traditional values slowly crumble away since the 1980s. However, this also means that husbands and wives in Korea have more reason to be suspicious of their spouses.
Aside from a massive increase in condom sales, Ashley Madison, the renowned adultery website, where men and women can sign up to seek another lover aside from their so called “life partner” is now up and running in South Korea after years of being blocked to Korean internet users.
Within 2 weeks of the 60 year old Korean law being lifted lifted, Ashley Madison saw 100,000 new South Korean members signing up and thus generating roughly $400,000 in revenue for the site. It is predicted that the site will have 1.6 million South Korean users by 2016.
The site claims that every 4 seconds a new user signs up. So whether it’s a busy salaryman looking for a quick fling and a young lady to spoil or a lonely housewife who craves attention from someone other than her absent husband, this site is a convenient tool to do just that.
Despite the decriminalisation of cheating on you husband or wife, it remains a massive social stigma in South Korea, especially for women, who risk losing their job and even their family if they were found to have committed such an act.
Ashley Madison calls itself “the world’s leading infidelity service” making it Korea’s first company to label itself as a website to encourage and aid in committing adultery, but will it be the last?
Source: Business Insider and The Guardian
