A South Korean condom company is about to cash in on a major payday now that a court has ruled that adultery is legal.
The adultery ban, established over 60 years ago, was struck down Thursday after a panel of constitutional court judges agreed the law has no right to dictate what citizens do in the bedroom, The News Tribune reported.
Condom maker Unidus Corp. immediately reaped the benefits of the historic ruling, seeing its sock prices soar past the 15 percent daily limit on the South Korean Kosdaq.
Banning adultery "excessively restricts citizens' basic rights, such as the right to determine sexual affairs," the court said.
South Korea outlawed adultery in 1953 as a way to protect marriage and traditional family values. Those who had sex with someone who wasn't their husband or wife faced up to two years in prison.
Thousands have been charged for violating the law. Almost 53,000 have been charged since 1985, according to The News Tribune.
But the law lost its effectiveness over the years, with modern trends taking hold in a society with deeply-rooted Confucian ideals. Cases were also rarely tried because a spouse had to file a complaint in order for prosecutors to bring charges.
If a case did make it to court, plaintiffs would often change their minds after taking a financial settlement in civil court.
"Recently, it was extremely rare for a person to serve a prison term for adultery," Lim Ji-bong, a law professor at Sogang University in Seoul, told The News Tribune. "The number of indictments has decreased as charges are frequently dropped."
Now that cheating is legal, that could spell the return of the secret rendezvous website Ashley Madison, which South Korea banned in 2014 over fears it promoted adultery.
No word yet on if the website will be allowed to return.
