Lee Hyo-jin covers the Bank of Korea, the banking industry and broader financial news. Her previous beats include foreign affairs, North Korea and general reporting on Korean society.
Korea's global image tarnished due to marginalization of foreigners, LGBT
People stand in line at a temporary COVID-19 testing center set up for foreign workers in Geumcheon District, Seoul, March 21. Yonhap
By Lee Hyo-jin
Gov't faces growing criticism over poor response to minority human rights issues
By Lee Hyo-jin
South Korea, a country with an advanced democracy in terms of guaranteeing basic political freedoms and civil liberties, generally respects the individual political and civil rights of its citizens, offering protection of their fundamental human rights.
However, discrimination against marginalized groups such as sexual minorities, foreigners, women and the disabled remains severe inside the country.
Human rights activists in and outside of the country have been criticizing the government for showing very little effort to address a recent series of human rights violation issues concerning various minorities.
Outcry of discrimination over mandatory COVID-19 testing order for foreign nationals
Beginning with the Gyeonggi provincial government's mandatory coronavirus testing order for all foreign workers, implemented on March 8, other local governments around the country, including Seoul, Daegu and Gwangju and the provinces of North Gyeongsang, South Jeolla and Gangwon, followed suit.
While the authorities stated that the orders were imposed as preventive measures against cluster infections at workplaces with migrant laborers, they failed to persuade the public with any epidemiological reason as to why all workers of foreign nationality, regardless of their date of entry, duration of stay or connection to COVID-19 infection cases, needed to be tested or face fines of up to 2 million won ($1,765).
The top-down, one-size-fits-all order immediately drew criticism among the foreign national community, including from diplomatic missions, chambers of commerce and international businesses, as well as from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK), which labeled it “discriminatory.”
Seoul City withdrew its order, but other local governments, including Gyeonggi Province, chose to continue pushing theirs.
Steve Hamilton, chief of mission to the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in South Korea, called the orders, “Completely biased and giving the public the false impression that foreigners, as a group, are spreading COVID-19.”
He told The Korea Times, “Given the international travel limitations in place since early last year, most of the migrants here have been in the country the whole time, so transmission within this group consists mostly of domestic transmission among people who have co-mingled with Korean nationals.”
Although globally, the South Korean government's response to the pandemic has been praised as balanced, as well as carefully attuned to medical evidence, these “baffling” orders requiring all foreign workers to get tested or face fines are out of step with that approach, he said.
“The order needlessly discriminated against foreigners when better approaches could have been used. Public health measures, including testing, contact tracing and restrictions on movement, are needed to protect the health of everyone, so they need to be applied to everyone equally, not randomly targeted at one group alone,” he stressed, adding that a virus does not spread simply via a person having a foreign passport.
Deaths of 3 transgender women show marginalization of sexual and gender minorities
Participants at a press conference organized by LGBTQ activists stand in front of Seoul City Hall, Saturday. The event was held to mark the International Transgender Day of Visibility, which falls on March 31. Yonhap
Three members of the LGBTQ community who did not hesitate to raise their voices in South Korean society, where discrimination against one's sexual orientation and gender identity is prevalent, have passed away during the past two months.
Transgender screenwriter Lee Eun-yong was found dead on Feb. 8. Kim Gi-hong, a transgender former politician who was a leader in the queer community of Jeju, was found dead on Feb. 24.
On March 3, former soldier Byun Hee-soo, who was forcibly discharged from the military after receiving a gender reassignment operation during her time in the military, was found dead in her home.
Human rights activists stressed that their deaths show how sexual minorities are excluded from civil protections from the widespread hate and discrimination against them in South Korean society. They are demanding the establishment of anti-discrimination laws, an initiative stalled at the National Assembly as well as in South Korean society for over 20 years.
Hong Sung-soo, a professor of law at Sookmyung Women's University, pointed out that the government's lack of effort to examine the discrimination against sexual minorities in Korea has left the issue totally unaddressed.
“Sexual minorities have never been officially recognized as a visible group for policymakers. The census has never included them in the survey system, and law enforcement authorities do not separately gather statistics on crimes against the LGBTQ community,” Hong said.
“If this widespread hate and discrimination against sexual minorities continues, it will develop into serious social conflicts. The anti-discrimination law is a basic preemptive measure to guarantee a safe and peaceful society for all,” he said.
North Korean human rights issues left on the sidelines
A North Korea flag flies next to barbed wire at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in this March 9, 2017, photo. Reuters-Yonhap
While the Moon Jae-in administration remains consistent in its efforts to engage North Korea in peace talks, the issue of human rights violations under the reclusive regime has been left on the sidelines, raising concerns among local and international human rights activists.
Most recently, in March, South Korea declined for the third consecutive year to co-sponsor a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNCHR) resolution condemning the widespread violations of human rights in North Korea.
Phil Robertson, chief of Human Rights Watch's Asia Division, criticized the decision. “South Korea's decision to once again take a step back from the resolution is a complete betrayal of the human rights issues in the North,” he was quoted as saying by the U.S.-based media outlet Radio Free Asia (RFA).
He stressed that Moon, ever since taking office, has been more focused on dialoguing with his Northern counterpart Kim Jong-un than on aiding North Korean citizens in escaping human rights abuses.
It is not the first time that the administration has been criticized for its lack of effort in drawing attention to human rights violations in the North.
The so-called “anti-leaflet law,” which criminalizes sending anti-Pyongyang material and leaflets across the border, came into effect Tuesday, following an amendment to the Development of the Inter-Korean Relations Act.
The bill had drawn concerns that it could be hurting freedom of expression as well as barring efforts to send information into the reclusive state. The government claims the law is necessary to prevent tensions from turning violent and threatening the lives of residents in the border region.