SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea has formally lifted a ban on the import of full-body sex dolls, ending years of debate over how much the government can interfere in private life.
Although there are no laws or regulations banning the import of sex dolls, hundreds, and perhaps thousands, have been seized by the Korea Customs Service, which cited a clause in the law that bans the import of goods that “harm the country’s beautiful traditions and public moral.”
Importers complained and took their case to courts, most of which agreed with them and ordered customs to release the sex dolls, saying they are used in people’s private spaces and do not undermine human dignity.
On Monday, the customs service said in a statement that it began enforcing a revised guideline for the import of life-size adult sex dolls. It said it reviewed recent court rulings and opinions from relevant government agencies, including the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family.
The customs service said it will still ban the import of child-like sex dolls or others embodying certain people. It said other countries like the United States, Australia and Britain also ban child-like sex dolls.
While the decision reflects South Korea’s slow yet gradual moves to restrict state interference in personal lives, some women’s rights and conservative organizations are likely to again voice their opposition to the use of sex dolls. They say they deepen sexual objectification of women and undermine public moral.
Carenshare Co., a South Korean company that imports sex dolls, said in a statement that it was “deplorable” for the customs service to lift the import ban after allegedly wasting taxpayers’ money for lawsuits with importers. The company said it has suffered immense losses. It said South Korea must reform other regulations that have a negative impact on the economy.
“We thought our people’s rights to seek happiness and use (sex dolls) in their private lives have been restricted by the state,” said Lee Sang-jin, who headed one of the company’s online shopping malls. “There are various types of people who use (sex dolls), including those who are sexually alienated or those who need them for artistic purposes.”
Lee said the decision by the customs service was “reasonable” but a “bit late.”
South Korean authorities have not cracked down on the sale of domestically made sex dolls, but their quality is in general inferior to that of those made abroad, Lee said.
Lee said his former company has already taken back more than 20 sex dolls from customs officials through lawsuits. He said the company has filed separate lawsuits seeking government compensation because many of the retrieved sex dolls became unusable following about two years of seizures by the customs service.
The customs service’s decision would allow importers to get back their sex dolls held in government storage run by the agency.
Customs officials said they still most likely held more than 1,000 sex dolls that had been sent to South Korea since 2018.
