The Economist - USA (2020-05-16)

The EconomistMay 16th 2020 Asia 31

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A

part fromthe temperature checks at

the boarding gate and the face masks

worn by passengers and crew, there was

nothing unusual about the flight that left

Seoul’s Gimpo airport for the southern is-

land of Jeju on the morning of May 1st.

There was not a single spare seat on the

plane, nor on many of the 108 others that

departed for the same destination that day.

Buoyed by much-relaxed social-dis-

tancing recommendations following

weeks of very few new cases of covid-19,

Seoulites emerged from their cramped

apartments to spend the long holiday

weekend by the sea. Closer to home, thou-

sands of partygoers from both Seoul and

the rest of the country flocked to the capi-

tal’s bars and clubs, which had reopened

after a brief closure in April.

The return of domestic tourism and

nightlife reflected public confidence in

South Korea’s ability to keep the virus at

bay. But in at least one instance, that confi-

dence was misplaced. The tourists who

frolicked by the sea suffered few adverse

consequences beyond a spot of sunburn.

Revellers in Seoul’s clubs, however, were

not so lucky. Shortly after the long week-

end, it emerged that customers had carried

the virus into several busy nightspots.

More than 100 new infections have been

traced to clubs in Itaewon, a popular enter-

tainment district. Since the affected areas

saw thousands of visitors on the date in

question, the number of infections is likely

to continue to rise.

Tracking down potential patients,

which has been South Korea’s main

strength in suppressing the virus, has

proved harder than during previous out-

breaks. Contact-tracing initially focused

on a handful of gay bars visited by a man

who later tested positive. Homosexuality is

often stigmatised in South Korea. Being

outed as gay (the effective result of the

man’s home town and workplace becom-

ing public knowledge in the process of con-

tact-tracing) can lead to people being fired

from their jobs and ostracised by friends,

family and neighbours. Many of the names

and telephone numbers on the lists of cus-

tomers that clubs have been obliged to

keep since reopening turned out to be fake.

In response, authorities are adjusting

their tracing methods. They are now offer-

ing free and anonymous testing for any-

body who went near the affected areas in

late April and early May. In a break with

SEOUL

A cluster of infections at nightclubs

mars the relaxation of restrictions

Covid-19 in South Korea

A catchy beat

viewsabouttheexactlocationofthe“line

ofactualcontrol”theyarepatrolling.En-

countersbetweenunitsfromthetwosides

are therefore inevitable. Agreements

signedin 1996 and 2003 establishedproto-

colstodealwithsuchincidents,including

promisesnottouseweapons.Theresult-

ing gunless confrontations range from

merejostlingtomoreseriousmelees,com-

pletewithrock-throwingandacrobaticfly-

ingkicks.

Suchscufflesmightbecomeyetmore

frequent.Negotiationstodefinetheborder

havemadelittleprogress,andtroopsare

bumpingintoeachothermoreoften.Tanvi

Madan of the Brookings Institution, a

think-tank,pointsoutthat,afteryearsin

whichChinaimprovedinfrastructureand

increasedthemilitarypresenceonitsside

oftheborder,Indiahasrecentlybeendoing

thesame.AttheWuhansummitMessrs

ModiandXibothagreedtogive“strategic

guidance”totheirrespectivearmiestocool

it.“Theexactoppositeishappening,”says

Jabin Jacob of Shiv Nadar University.

“Nationalistnarrativesinbothcountries

are beginningto percolate down to the

militariesindifficult-to-controlways.” 7

I

t is anodd mix. Taiwan is the only coun-

try in Asia to have legalised gay marriage

(unless you count Australia and New Zea-

land). But it is also one of the few countries

in Asia, along with conservative Muslim

places such as Afghanistan and Brunei,

where adultery remains a crime. From 2016

to 2019 the police investigated more than

10,000 people they suspected of philander-

ing. More than 1,200 were convicted. The

guilty all received fines, averaging 90,000

Taiwan dollars ($3,000). They could in the-

ory have been jailed for up to a year. And

many straying spouses end up with a crim-

inal record.

Worse, the weight of prosecutions falls

largely on women. When husbands are

caught cheating, some wives forgive them,

but insist on pressing charges against the

other woman. Cuckolded men, by contrast,

tend to press charges against both their

wives and their lovers. The result is that

54% of those convicted in recent years have

been women. For other crimes in Taiwan,

men earn roughly 80% of all convictions.

The adultery law dates from 1935 and its

age leads to further peculiarities. The term

it uses for adultery—tongjian—has long

been held by the courts to refer to vaginal

intercourse between a man and a woman.

It is not clear, therefore, whether the law

applies to gay couples, says Shawn Tsai

Ching-hsiang, the minister of justice.

What is more, the narrow definition of

the crime and the reluctance of courts to

convict in the absence of clear proof have

fostered a cottage industry: private investi-

gators attempt to demonstrate not just that

a married person has been having surrepti-

tious trysts with someone of the opposite

sex, but also that the pair have been having

intercourse. The snoops have been known

to wait outside hotel rooms listening for

moans before bursting in, camera in hand.

A couple caught together in bed once es-

caped conviction, notes Kuan Hsiao-wei of

National Taipei University, by claiming

they were just chatting, albeit naked. But it

is worth scorned spouses’ while to try to

catch their partner in flagrante, since the

threat of pressing charges can help secure a

more favourable divorce settlement.

Despite all these flaws, Taiwanese seem

to like the adultery law. A poll conducted in

2017 by the Taiwanese Public Opinion

Foundation found that 69% of adults want-

ed to keep it on the books. An earlier gov-

ernment survey found even stronger sup-

port for retaining the law. “In Taiwanese

society, everyone thinks a stable marriage

and family is the foundation of social sta-

bility,” Mr Tsai says.

Nonetheless, several lower courts have

asked the constitutional court to review

the law. It heard oral arguments on the sub-

ject on March 31st, and says it will an-

nounce a ruling at the end of May. The court

upheld the law as recently as 2002, but

since then has issued a series of more liber-

al rulings. It was the court, for example,

which ordered parliament to legalise gay

marriage in 2017. Mr Tsai says the govern-

ment is open-minded about the law’s fu-

ture. The judges, however, are likely to be

more categorical. 7

TAIPEI

The courts may decriminalise adultery

Sexual mores in Taiwan

Philanderers hold

their breath

Keep your vows—or else