South Korea decriminalized adultery on Thursday after the country's Constitutional Court struck down a 62-year-old law that made marital infidelity punishable by up to two years in prison.

The tribunal noted that sexual mores had changed in the Asian society, which today puts a higher emphasis on individual rights, The New York Times reported.

"It has become difficult to say that there is a consensus on whether adultery should be punished as a criminal offense," the court wrote in its majority opinion. "It should be left to the free will and love of people to decide whether to maintain marriage, and the matter should not be externally forced through a criminal code."

The ruling could affect thousands of individuals accused of adultery since Oct. 31, 2008, a day after the court previously upheld the ban. The charges could be thrown out, and those who already were given guilty verdicts might be eligible for a retrial, The Associated Press noted based on explanations from an unidentified court official.

Between November 2008 and January 2015, more than 5,400 people have been indicted for adultery, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office said. Although prison terms have been rare, nearly 53,000 South Koreans have been charged under the law since 1985.

The thrown-out legislation decreed that having sex with a married person who was not one's spouse was punishable by up to two years behind bars. Supporters claimed it helped promote monogamy and keep families intact, while opponents contested the government's right to interfere in people's private lives and sexual affairs.

The Constitutional Court's ruling was welcome news for Unidus, South Korea's biggest condom maker, whose stocks rose 15 percent -- the daily limit on the country's Kosdaq market, The Guardian detailed. The company produces lines of condoms called "Long-Love," "Fantasia" and "Real Touch," as well as "sensual lubricants" and latex medical products, such as surgical gloves.

South Korea has one of the lowest birth rates in the world; on average, each woman has about 1.2 children.

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