Ok So-ri (Korean옥소리; born 23 December 1968) is the stage name of South Korean actress whose real name is Ok Bo-gyeong (옥보경). Ok made her debut in a TV commercial in 1987. She appeared in the TV series Hero's Diary in 1994.

Adultery case

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In 2008, she was accused of adultery with an opera singer, and an Italian chef working at a Seoul luxury hotel.[1][2][3] Her husband, Park Chul (박철), a radio talk show personality, sought the maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment, while the prosecutors were seeking 18 months. Ok blamed her infidelity on a loveless marriage.[4] She was sentenced, in December 2008, to eight months in prison by a suburban Seoul court, but avoided jail because the sentence was suspended for two years.[5] In September 2008, a lower court had declared both partners jointly responsible for their divorce, and awarded custody of their eight-year-old daughter to Mr. Park.[6]

Ok had been trying to overturn a 1953 law that criminalises extramarital affairs and can send a person to jail for up to two years for adultery.[7] For this purpose she brought a case before the Constitutional Court of Korea, which ruled against the actress and in handling the decision said that society would be harmed if it overturned the law,[5] and that the "two-year jail term is not excessive when comparing it to responsibility."[4][7][8] In 2015, South Korea's Constitutional Court overturned the law that made adultery a crime, which had been on the books since 1953.[9][10]

Personal life

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Ok married an Italian in 2011, and gave birth to a son and a daughter. The family lived in Taiwan, but Ok later divorced her second husband. Following their 2014 divorce, her Italian ex-husband received child custody rights and remarried in 2016.[11]

Filmography

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References

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  1. ^ Koreans Agog as Off-Screen Soap Becomes Courtroom Drama New York Times, CHOE SANG-HUN, May 19, 2008
  2. ^ Celebrity scandal highlights Korea's adultery ban: when fading TV heartthrob Park Chul accused his actress wife of infidelity, he ignited an undignified row The Irish Times, DAVID McNEILL, May 24, 2008
  3. ^ Why adultery is a dubious career move in the film industry The Guardian, David Parkinson, 18 December 2008
  4. ^ a b "Korean adulterer faces jail term". BBC News. 2008-11-26.
  5. ^ a b "Sex not Ok: actress escapes jail over affair". Fairfax Digital. 2008-12-17.
  6. ^ Kim, Rahm (2008-09-26). "Park Chul, Ok So-ri Both Blamed for Broken Marriage". Korea Times.
  7. ^ a b "Korean adultery actress sentenced". BBC News. 17 December 2008.
  8. ^ Chosun Ilbo
  9. ^ Dead scarlet letter: The country at last repeals a law that made infidelity a crime The Economist, 2015/02/27
  10. ^ "Court rules: Adultery no longer a crime in South Korea", Greg Botelho and K.J. Kwon, CNN, February 26, 2015
  11. ^ Actress loses custody of children to Italian husband Dong Sun-hwa, The Korea Times, 10-15-2018
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