Court throws out anti-adultery law

A South Korean court on Thursday abolished a 62-year-old law that bans extramarital affairs, and the stock price of a prominent condom maker immediately shot up 15 percent.

The ruling by the Constitutional Court that the law suppresses personal freedoms could potentially affect thousands of individuals who faced adultery charges since Oct 31, 2008, a day after the court previously upheld the adultery ban. Current charges could be thrown out and anyone given a guilty verdict would be eligible for a retrial, according to a court official, who didn't want to be named, citing office rules.

Prosecutors had indicted more than 5,400 people on adultery charges between November 2008 and January this year, according to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office.