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It's official: South Korean women can now wear miniskirts
Agence France-Presse
Last updated 12:33pm (Mla time) 11/02/2006
SEOUL -- South Korea's "fashion police," who prowled the streets in the 1970s measuring the length of women's skirts, will soon officially be consigned to oblivion.
Showing too much skin in public places will no longer be classed as indecent exposure and will be deleted from the Minor Offense Act, the National Police Agency has said.
The provision has not been enforced for years, and a police agency spokesman quoted by Thursday's Korea Times said it was one of several out-of-date rules which would be abolished.
Also among the rules set to be scrapped are mismanagement of chimney sweeping and false writing of pawnshop books.
The miniskirt rule dates back to the military dictatorship of the 1970s, when long-haired men could also be stopped in the street and forced to undergo an instant haircut.
South Korea became a democracy in 1987 and most of the authoritarian restrictions under the minor offenses act have been scrapped since then.
In keeping with the times, a majority of the offences under the act this year covered smoking in prohibited places.
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