MP, chairman of the Unity Party, Tahir Karimli, also commented on women’s clothing while protesting against the permission given to men and women to enter hotels without requiring a marriage certificate. Citing the example of South Korea, the MP said that in this country, women wearing miniskirts and “leaving little to the imagination” are fined $ 45. He described this rule as a sign of South Korea's protection of its national values.
“South Korea is an atheist state. Women wearing miniskirts and “leaving little to the imagination” are fined $ 45,” said T. Karimli.
Fakt Yoxla examined whether this claim of Tahir Karimli was true.
It should be noted that the fine claimed by Tahir Karimli existed in South Korea. During the military dictatorship in the 1970s, police could arrest or fine women wearing skirts less than 20 cm in public.
An amendment to the Minor Offences Act of March 21, 2012, stated that any person who embarrasses or offends other people by excessively exposing his or her naked body or exposing any part of his or her body which ought to be hidden, in, or within the view of, a public places shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred thousand won, by misdemeanor imprisonment, or by a minor fine.
Then in 2013, during the first meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers of President Park Geun-hye, under a decree approved by the new government, people could be fined 50,000 KRW ($ 45) for showing their bare skin excessively in a public place.
In 2015, the police chief of Yangsan Police Department fined a citizen for undressing above the waist and sunbathing in a park near his home. The police chief complained to the Ulsan District Court about the person who did not pay the fine. The court imposed a fine of $ 45. The accused appealed against this decision. In this case, the court asked the Constitutional Court for an opinion on Article 3, Part 1, Paragraph 33, which set the ground for a fine.
Finally, in November 2016, the South Korean Constitutional Court ruled that the law was too vague and unclear. The court ruled that the expression “overexposure” provided for in the law was extremely subjective and unconstitutional, which did not comply with the principle of clarity of law.
After that, the law was amended and the statements were further specified. The expression "any part of his or her body" was replaced with the expression “genital area”.
Currently, in the Punishment of Minor Offenses Act of Korea, there is Article 33 on embarrassing others by opening the genital area in public places.
Article 245 of the Criminal Act of Korea states that a person who publicly commits an obscene act shall be punished by imprisonment for not more than one year, a fine not exceeding five million won ($ 4,514.60), detention or a minor fine.
As for the punishment for miniskirts, there is no such practice in Korea. In response to Tahir Karimli's claim, the South Korean embassy in Azerbaijan said that there is no rule, law, or charter in South Korea that prohibits such clothing.
Fakt Yoxla concludes that Tahir Karimli's claim is False.
