Have an Affair. (Just Not in South Korea.)

People around the world are coming together over the internet, but much of mankind has long had another thing in common: adultery. And perhaps no one has married the web with adultery better than Ashley Madison, the online matchmaker of the unfaithful.

Ashley, however, suffered a setback last week in its amorous mission. When it launched a newly designed Korean version of its site, the government of South Korea banned it.

Adultery in South Korea remains illegal and carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail. It was with this law in mind that, according to Yahoo News, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) banned the Ashley Madison site, which the governmental body accused of inciting adultery. According to a statement from the KCSC, the action was taken to “protect healthy sexual morals, marriage bonds and family life.”

The dating site, whose slogan is “Life is Short. Have an Affair,” says it does not in fact incite adultery. It doesn’t even encourage anyone to cheat. If you’re going to cheat, though, you might as well make it easy on yourself by using Ashley Madison. (Seriously, the company says this in its FAQs.)

Ashley Madison growth graph
Ashley Madison membership over the years.

Statistics on infidelity by country are hard to come by since many countries discourage research on sex. Still, no one believes cheating doesn’t take place in South Korean or anywhere else.

According to a 2011 Harris Interactive poll cited by the Wall Street Journal, 34% of South Korean men admitted to engaging in extra-marital sex. Of the 36 countries surveyed, South Korea ranked second in infidelity only after Thailand, where 54% of men admitted to cheating on their spouses. Some percentage of South Korean women are sure to cheat, too.

Meanwhile, Ashley Madison has 25 million members spread across 30 countries, including South Korea.

 
Featured Image via AshleyMadison.com
Graph reprinted from Business Insider Australia.

Via Yahoo News

Daniel Malakoff

By Daniel Malakoff

Daniel is a senior editor at DashBurst, writes fiction and teaches writing at the University of Pittsburgh.