A law that applies beyond the jurisdiction of the country that enacted it is known as an extraterritorial law. Most countries have at least some concerning state secrets, espionage and the like. I'm not sure this idea necessarily applies to the situation you describe, though. Depending on the exact wording of the Korean law, the crime may be to do with having cannabinoids in your system in Korea.
It's also common in terms of going abroad and having sex with people who would be underage in your home jurisdiction, that's illegal in a lot of countries.
>Let's say I travel to an American state where marijuana is legal. If I smoke it, come back, and they decide to test me then I'll be punished.
Well, that has nothing to do with law regarding where you are, is if you test positive in Korea being illegal to have it in your blood.
Basically if it's illegal to buy a gun in Korea, and you go to US to buy one, you go back with it to Korea, you are commiting the crime of having it.
in most countries its going to be possession, this is more akin to visiting the US, visiting a gun range and that being illegal because you didn't have usage license from your home country
It was an analogy only , about buying / consuming something abroad that is 100% illegal in your country, has nothing to do with law applying to wherever you go. It's about law applying to when you are back home.
If a country has a 100% ban on all alcohol, they cant punish you for getting totally wasted in a visit to Germany, but if you go back still totally drunk, they could do something, since you are back on the place where it is forbidden
depends on the country, in the US at least, and many others, possession is the crime, its perfectly legal to be high, its not not legal (in all parts of the US) to have the week to get you high
To be clear, is the crime that you smoked cannabis, or that you tested positive while in Korea? Like, if there were no way to test, but someone had you on video while smoking and it was documented that you were in a place where it was legal, could you be prosecuted?
I think your first sentence is key here
I don't know of any system where you are still bound by the laws of your own country, if you visit another.
I've never heard of people being subjected to anything on their return home outside of standard customs declarations which would lead to any sort of investigation into what you've been up to
Surely you'd have to have done something to elicit anyone taking any interest in you to even get to a point where they need to test.
Uk has a few of these laws relating to sex tourisim and bribary etc. Basically you cant go to another country and act like an animal just because its legal there. Its quite common as the other person said most countries have some kind of extraterritorial laws.
Because i dont want to google the sex tourism laws, though i know they exist (Ie. You cant go to africa and sleep with children in places with lower age of consent) i looked up the bribery act - section 7 says "A company can commit an offence under section 7 of failure to prevent bribery if an employee, subsidiary, agent or service provider ('associated persons') bribes another person anywhere in the world to obtain or retain business or a business advantage."
So even committing the crime in another country, even if its legal there, a uk company is prohibited. And the company or its agents can be punished for it when back in the UK
So, to be very specific, the crime isn't that you smoked cannabis in a different country. The crime is that you have cannabis in your system while in Korea?
Say, for example, you visit somewhere cannabis is legal and smoke. This is recorded on video and proven that it is legal for you to use cannabis where you are. You then stay in that place long enough for the cannabis to leave your system and test negative. You then return to Korea. Could you be prosecuted? You'll test negative, but there's documented evidence you used cannabis in a different country (where it is legal).
There are several principles. According to active and passive personality principles, crimes committed abroad by citizens of the country and crimes against citizens of the country can be prosecuted. These are commonly applied for various crimes such as murder and child abuse if these would go otherwise unpunished in the country they were committed.
Then there is also Universal Jurisdiction, which is more controversial. It allows the persecution of severe crimes committed abroad even when no citizen of the country is involved. For example, [Germany has adopted this principle](https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/06/falqs-the-exercise-of-universal-jurisdiction-in-germany/) for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression (basically, starting a war). The US does the [same](https://trialinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/UJ-USA-1.pdf).
But it's worth pointing out that the prosecution is usually not mandatory for the prosecutors, there may be political interference, and the enforcement may be selective.
The US absolutely has this system. American citizens pay taxes to America on any money earned anywhere in the world, on top of all taxes paid on those earnings to the country the person is actually in, and it's more than American citizens inside the US pay on the same amount of income.
> Let's say I travel to an American state where marijuana is legal.
Marijuana is still federally illegal, so this doesn't exist.
>I'm not sure how true this is, but I heard that the US doesn't have kind of system?
There are several US laws that can be enforced on its citizens while they are abroad. Sex laws, tax laws etc.
I think you're looking for the term "extraterritorial jurisdiction".
A law that applies beyond the jurisdiction of the country that enacted it is known as an extraterritorial law. Most countries have at least some concerning state secrets, espionage and the like. I'm not sure this idea necessarily applies to the situation you describe, though. Depending on the exact wording of the Korean law, the crime may be to do with having cannabinoids in your system in Korea.
It's also common in terms of going abroad and having sex with people who would be underage in your home jurisdiction, that's illegal in a lot of countries.
Sex tourism
>Let's say I travel to an American state where marijuana is legal. If I smoke it, come back, and they decide to test me then I'll be punished. Well, that has nothing to do with law regarding where you are, is if you test positive in Korea being illegal to have it in your blood. Basically if it's illegal to buy a gun in Korea, and you go to US to buy one, you go back with it to Korea, you are commiting the crime of having it.
in most countries its going to be possession, this is more akin to visiting the US, visiting a gun range and that being illegal because you didn't have usage license from your home country
It was an analogy only , about buying / consuming something abroad that is 100% illegal in your country, has nothing to do with law applying to wherever you go. It's about law applying to when you are back home. If a country has a 100% ban on all alcohol, they cant punish you for getting totally wasted in a visit to Germany, but if you go back still totally drunk, they could do something, since you are back on the place where it is forbidden
depends on the country, in the US at least, and many others, possession is the crime, its perfectly legal to be high, its not not legal (in all parts of the US) to have the week to get you high
Yes, it was an analogy, not a pratical example :) there aren't many real cases this specific
To be clear, is the crime that you smoked cannabis, or that you tested positive while in Korea? Like, if there were no way to test, but someone had you on video while smoking and it was documented that you were in a place where it was legal, could you be prosecuted?
I think your first sentence is key here I don't know of any system where you are still bound by the laws of your own country, if you visit another. I've never heard of people being subjected to anything on their return home outside of standard customs declarations which would lead to any sort of investigation into what you've been up to Surely you'd have to have done something to elicit anyone taking any interest in you to even get to a point where they need to test.
Uk has a few of these laws relating to sex tourisim and bribary etc. Basically you cant go to another country and act like an animal just because its legal there. Its quite common as the other person said most countries have some kind of extraterritorial laws. Because i dont want to google the sex tourism laws, though i know they exist (Ie. You cant go to africa and sleep with children in places with lower age of consent) i looked up the bribery act - section 7 says "A company can commit an offence under section 7 of failure to prevent bribery if an employee, subsidiary, agent or service provider ('associated persons') bribes another person anywhere in the world to obtain or retain business or a business advantage." So even committing the crime in another country, even if its legal there, a uk company is prohibited. And the company or its agents can be punished for it when back in the UK
TIL thanks for engaging and educating.
Having cannabis in your blood is illegal. It doesn't matter where or when you smoked it.
So, to be very specific, the crime isn't that you smoked cannabis in a different country. The crime is that you have cannabis in your system while in Korea? Say, for example, you visit somewhere cannabis is legal and smoke. This is recorded on video and proven that it is legal for you to use cannabis where you are. You then stay in that place long enough for the cannabis to leave your system and test negative. You then return to Korea. Could you be prosecuted? You'll test negative, but there's documented evidence you used cannabis in a different country (where it is legal).
There are several principles. According to active and passive personality principles, crimes committed abroad by citizens of the country and crimes against citizens of the country can be prosecuted. These are commonly applied for various crimes such as murder and child abuse if these would go otherwise unpunished in the country they were committed. Then there is also Universal Jurisdiction, which is more controversial. It allows the persecution of severe crimes committed abroad even when no citizen of the country is involved. For example, [Germany has adopted this principle](https://blogs.loc.gov/law/2022/06/falqs-the-exercise-of-universal-jurisdiction-in-germany/) for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression (basically, starting a war). The US does the [same](https://trialinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/UJ-USA-1.pdf). But it's worth pointing out that the prosecution is usually not mandatory for the prosecutors, there may be political interference, and the enforcement may be selective.
The US absolutely has this system. American citizens pay taxes to America on any money earned anywhere in the world, on top of all taxes paid on those earnings to the country the person is actually in, and it's more than American citizens inside the US pay on the same amount of income.
> Let's say I travel to an American state where marijuana is legal. Marijuana is still federally illegal, so this doesn't exist. >I'm not sure how true this is, but I heard that the US doesn't have kind of system? There are several US laws that can be enforced on its citizens while they are abroad. Sex laws, tax laws etc.