By Yi Whan-woo
The nation’s human rights agency said Tuesday that a provincial library open only to women violates basic human rights.
Its ruling came after a male resident filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in June concerning the lack of access for men to the Jecheon City Library in North Chungcheong Province.
The commission took note of the fact that the library was built with the main purpose of serving women’s welfare. But the human rights agency ruled the restriction on men was still discriminatory.
“The provincial government had limited space at that time to build a library large enough to accommodate an influx of visitors, including men,” it said.
“But restrictions on men should be abolished as only 15 percent of the city’s population use the library,” it said.
“It can still serve its purpose to serve women by specializing services and using its resources and programs to promote female issues,” it added.
The library said it has kept the library open only to women in line with the wish of the person who donated the funds to construct the library. It also said that since the facilities were made to serve only women, it has been difficult to allow males.
Officials from the library, however, said they will consider whether they can take steps to allow male access.
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