By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Korea's human rights watchdog is to investigate the contracts of female entertainers as part of efforts to improve the human rights of vulnerable groups.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) announced its working plan for 2009 Tuesday and said it will launch an investigation into the working conditions of the entertainers.

The recent suicide of actress Jang Ja-yeon triggered the commission's action. She was found dead after her agency allegedly forced her to provide sex to several high-powered entertainment figures and journalists.

The NHRCK estimated that many other actresses are exposed to sexual exploitation within the entertainment industry, while most of them were uninsured and underpaid.

``There hasn't been a systematic case study of the human rights conditions of female entertainers so far,'' an official of the commission said.

It will also look into the collection and circulation of private information, student athletes who have dropped out, the aged, standards for differential wages and disabled university students, among others.

The commission will outsource the investigations to professional research organizations and the studies are expected to be finished by the end of the year. The results are to be used in forming policy to improve rights protection for the socially underprivileged.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr