[ti:South Korean Court Upholds Tattoo Ban]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]Tattoo artists in South Korea will continue to risk arrest
[00:05.48]if they violate a long-standing ban on their work.
[00:11.04]Last week, the highest court in the country
[00:14.84]ruled in support of the restriction.
[00:18.76]Only medical professionals
[00:21.60]may legally tattoo people in South Korea.
[00:26.72]A tattoo is a permanent image on skin.
[00:31.08]Tattoo artists use needles filled with ink
[00:34.76]to mark the body with words or a design.
[00:38.52]Some people consider the practice
[00:41.20]an important form of expression.
[00:45.12]The Constitutional Court voted 5-to-4 last week
[00:49.16]to keep the law in place.
[00:51.92]It said the tattooing is a medical process that carries risks.
[00:59.04]Tattoo artists do not have the training
[01:02.28]to provide acceptable medical care to the people, the court said.
[01:08.12]Violators of the law risk serious punishment,
[01:12.60]including fines of about $40,000 and two years in prison.
[01:19.60]Tattoo artist groups in South Korea
[01:23.52]began pushing for reform of the law in 2017.
[01:28.80]The ban is based on one that Japan established in 1992.
[01:35.88]However, that country has since repealed the law.
[01:41.96]Kim Do-yoon leads an alliance
[01:45.36]of about 650 tattoo artists seeking reform.
[01:50.44]The group condemned the court’s decision
[01:53.96]as a rejection of modern time.
[01:58.08]“The court is still walking on four feet
[02:01.32]when all citizens walk upright,” Kim said.
[02:06.08]The popular tattooist is better known as Doy.
[02:11.40]Tattoos in South Korea are becoming more popular.
[02:14.84]While they are rarely seen on television,
[02:18.44]some South Korean celebrities, including actors
[02:22.80]and musicians show their tattoos on social media.
[02:28.00]Public opinion research in South Korea finds
[02:32.84]that most people support an end to the tattoo art restrictions.
[02:39.72]Tattooists and their supporters say the law is too strong.
[02:44.96]Kim Sho-yun is the president of the Korea Tattoo Federation.
[02:50.88]She called the court’s decision “nonsense.”
[02:55.40]She spoke to reporters gathered at the courthouse in Seoul.
[02:59.24]She wondered why the court still considered tattooing
[03:03.48]a medical treatment when, in her words,
[03:07.04]“doctors can't and don't do that?"
[03:11.04]Even South Korea’s president-elect, Yoon Suk-yeol
[03:16.32]said he supported permitting tattoos
[03:19.52]that can be used to make hair seem darker.
[03:24.32]I’m Dan Friedell. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM