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Ashley Madison South Korea Ban Is Lifted

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South Korea has lifted a ban on extramarital dating site Ashley Madison.

Last April Ashley Madison launched in the country, which has a 1953 law that makes adultery illegal and punishable with two years in prison.

Shortly after this, the Canadian site was blocked because officials said the operation of the site stood in opposition to the statute.

However it was recently announced that the South Korean Constitutional Court has overturned the ban.

A spokesperson for the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) told the AFP this was “because the commission has no legal grounds to restrict it.”

When the site launched last year, CEO & founder of Ashley Madison Noel Biderman said the 1953 law was “hopelessly outdated”.

And despite the law, 46,000 people signed up to the site within a week.

Biderman told the AFP: “The point is that people are going to have affairs no matter what avenues are open or closed to them. So why not provide them with a discreet way to do it? It’s an alternative to affairs in the workplace, which risk exposure, humiliation and dismissal. If anything, our website will help keep people out of the courts.”

Regarding the decision to allow the site to run in South Korea, a KCSC spokesperson said: “Our move was in line with the court’s decision, but the commission will keep monitoring Ashley Madison’s operation to see if it violates a law prohibiting sex trafficking.”

Simon Edmunds

Simon is the former editor of Global Dating Insights. Born in Newcastle, he has an English degree from Queen Mary, London and after working for the NHS, trained as a journalist with the Press Association. Passionate about music, journalism and Newcastle United.

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