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South Korean officials have lifted a ban on importing adult sex dolls.
The decision comes after years of debate over whether the government was interfering in people’s private lives.
The Korea Customs Service said the revised guidelines allow the passage of dolls in the shape of an adult. But underage sex dolls are still banned.
Sex dolls are not prohibited by law in South Korea. However, thousands of them have been seized at customs since 2018.
Officials have banned the import of life-size sex dolls under a law that restricts goods seen as harmful to South Korea’s traditions and public morals.
At first, importers took their complaints to court, demanding the lifting of the ban and the release of the dolls held by the customs authorities. They said that the products do not infringe on human dignity.
In 2019, the Supreme Court upheld a decision that sex dolls are used for personal use, and fall under the same category as pornography, which is tightly regulated, but legal.
However, nearly a quarter of a million people have signed a petition to stop importing these dolls into South Korea. The petitioner, who did not reveal his identity, said the dolls could lead to an increase in sexual crimes.
The matter was resolved when customs officials decided to lift the ban. They said in a statement that the decision was made after reviewing recent rulings and consulting relevant government agencies including the Ministry for Gender Equality and the Family.
The decision also allows importers to retrieve their products from government custody. Customs officials said they likely still hold more than 1,000 sex dolls that arrived in South Korea in the past four years.
But customs officials said they would ban sex dolls that resemble real people, such as celebrities.
It is unclear if the ban also applies to homemade sex dolls imitating minors – but such restrictions do exist in Australia, the UK and the US.