SOUTH Korea's Constitutional Court has ruled that it is not against the law to grant massage licences only to blind people because such work is virtually the only job the blind can have, reported the Yonhap news agency.

The ruling marks the fourth time that the court has rejected an appeal challenging the medical law, which allows only visually impaired people to win massage licences and open massage salons, and calls for up to five years in prison or 50 million won (RM190,395) in fines for violators.

In the latest case, a massage salon owner filed a petition after being charged with offering massage services without a licence in 2015, arguing that the current law infringed on the occupational freedom of non-blind people.

But, the Constitutional Court rejected the claim.
 

"The massage business is virtually the only occupation that visually impaired people can normally enjoy," the court said in the ruling, adding that the current system "is an unavoidable choice aimed at guaranteeing visually impaired people's right to survival".

The court said non-blind people should continue to be banned from opening massage salons because allowing them to do so could leave blind people working under poor conditions.
It also ruled that punishing unlicensed massage businesses was not considered excessive. – Bernama, January 2, 2018.
Source: https://www.themalaysianinsight.com/s/30398/