Importing both penis- and vagina-shaped sex toys was previously illegal in South Korea, and yet the ban was eventually lifted, a representative of a sex doll import company pointed out.

As the petition to reinstate the ban on life-sized sex doll imports to South Korea has already garnered over 230,000 signatures, the founder of the company which helped overturn the ban by successfully suing the country’s customs agencies, has defended his stance on the issue.

"As we have become a more and more developed country, I can feel the collective loneliness in our society [increases]. Everyone is lonely", Lee Joon, the man who founded sex doll importer called Bururu.com, said as quoted by GlobalPost. "I don’t think everyone has to use sex dolls. It’s just one way of dealing with loneliness, and it can be a useful tool or even a friend for people … It’s a personal choice to own a sex doll, not a public matter."

The company CEO Lee-Sang-jin added that since the ban has been lifted, they already "have been getting a lot of inquiries from people interested in buying the dolls."

"The more fans and followers we attract, the more haters we’ll also get," he noted.

Lee also reminisced about how “importing penis-shaped sex toys was illegal in Korea until 2008 and importing vagina-shaped sex toys was illegal until 2010,” and yet in both of these cases, the importers fought the government and won.

According to The Korea Times, however, feminist groups continue to oppose the sex doll imports, with Park Ah-reum, activist at the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, slamming the way this type of product is being marketed.

"Promotional slogans commodifying women are an affront to women's rights," Park said.

An official at the Korean Women’s Association United told GlobalPost on condition of anonymity that sex dolls “are directly in line with misogyny.”

"It’s treating women as sexual objects. There are many concerns spreading from this. One thing being discussed among lawyers here is that there is currently no law regarding doll customisation. A man could customise the doll to have a friend’s face or a child’s face," she added.