On 28 August, the Joint Action to Correct the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (including the Korean Council and 35 civic organizations) held a press conference in front of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to denounce the criminal acts of Kim Yong-Won and Lee Chung-Sang for intimidating their staffs. Since their term of office, the two human rights commissioners of NHRC, Kim Yong-Won and Lee Chung-Sang, have been engaging in misogynistic, transphobic, and migrant worker-bashing behavior that has paralyzed the NHRC's functioning.
Under the National Human Rights Commission Act, the two commissioners are full-time civil servants with guaranteed status and are treated as deputy ministers. This status is intended to ensure that the commissioners are independent and impartial in their human rights advocacy work without being swayed by external pressures. However, the two commissioners act as if they are in a position to bully their staffs. The intimidation of NHRC staff, such as the continuous imposition of memorandums and exclusion from work, is causing extreme mental distress as victims.
In response, the Joint Action for the Correction of the National Human Rights Commission has filed charges against the two standing commissioners with the High Officials Criminal Investigation Bureau for dereliction of duty and abuse of office and against the National Police Agency and the National Human Rights Commission for violation of the National Human Rights Commission Act and violation of the Civil Service Code of Conduct, respectively.
On 28 August, the Joint Action to Correct the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (including the Korean Council and 35 civic organizations) held a press conference in front of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to denounce the criminal acts of Kim Yong-Won and Lee Chung-Sang for intimidating their staffs. Since their term of office, the two human rights commissioners of NHRC, Kim Yong-Won and Lee Chung-Sang, have been engaging in misogynistic, transphobic, and migrant worker-bashing behavior that has paralyzed the NHRC's functioning.
Under the National Human Rights Commission Act, the two commissioners are full-time civil servants with guaranteed status and are treated as deputy ministers. This status is intended to ensure that the commissioners are independent and impartial in their human rights advocacy work without being swayed by external pressures. However, the two commissioners act as if they are in a position to bully their staffs. The intimidation of NHRC staff, such as the continuous imposition of memorandums and exclusion from work, is causing extreme mental distress as victims.
In response, the Joint Action for the Correction of the National Human Rights Commission has filed charges against the two standing commissioners with the High Officials Criminal Investigation Bureau for dereliction of duty and abuse of office and against the National Police Agency and the National Human Rights Commission for violation of the National Human Rights Commission Act and violation of the Civil Service Code of Conduct, respectively.