Here is a role a South Korean actress didn’t want to play. In a real-life drama, Ok So-ri was handed a suspended jail term for having an affair, which is against the law in South Korea. It was a high profile case that tested the decades-old law prohibiting extramarital affairs and naturally gave the tabloids a tantalizing tale to keep readers mesmerized for months.

A year ago, Ok acknowledged during a news conference that she had had an affair with an opera singer for a few months in 2006. She stressed the affair was a result of her loveless marriage to actor Park Chul, who was a friend of the singer.

Naturally, Ok was not okay with the country's law — nor were others. She fought back, maintaining that the law was unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy. However, the conservative country’s court upheld the ban, which is part of South Korea’s 55-year-old criminal code.

Technically, Ok could have faced a prison sentence of up to two years, but few do serve time. As the Seoul newspapers reported, supporters of the adultery ban say it promotes monogamy and keeps families intact. Opponents argue the law violates privacy.

Complaints have been filed with the Constitutional Court three times — in 1990, 1993 and 2001 — to abolish the law, but the court has upheld it every time. While women's rights group were the ban's biggest supporters in the past when the law was meant to keep philandering husbands in line, in recent years some husbands have begun pressing adultery charges on their unfaithful wives.

Feminism and economic independence means that women do not have to put up with bad behavior. However, better to get divorced than have an affair.

The number of adultery cases filed in South Korea has dropped in recent years, declining to 8,070 in 2006 from 12,760 in 2000, according to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office. About 80 percent of those cases were dropped before formal charges were filed, largely because complaints were withdrawn.

The press and public pounce on these stories and it is also embarrassing for the family. In Ok's case, her lover also got a suspended sentence, so it was not gender based — thankfully.

As we have reported, many Muslim nations have anti-adultery laws with harsh penalties. Taiwan, Austria, Switzerland and some U.S. states also have laws prohibiting extramarital affairs, according to the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations, a government-funded legal counseling office.