Human Rights Commission: "If a complaint of human rights violation by Cho Kuk is filed, it will be handled according to the law"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Nahum] The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) recently stated on the 16th that it "does not meet the requirements for filing a petition" regarding the public petition document sent from the Blue House related to the investigation of former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk, and that "if a petition is (formally) submitted, it will be handled according to the law."

The NHRCK released a statement that day, saying, "The NHRCK independently performs its duties under the current National Human Rights Commission Act."

The statement included a request for cooperation in responding to the petition, along with the attached public petition document titled 'Request for Investigation into Human Rights Violations during the Investigation of Former Minister of Justice Cho Kuk.'

The petition's main point is that since there were indiscriminate human rights violations during the prosecution's investigation of former Minister Cho and his family, the NHRCK should thoroughly investigate this to prevent such incidents from happening again.

This petition gathered the consent of 226,434 people over a month, meeting the official response requirements of the Blue House.

After receiving the cooperation letter, the NHRCK replied to the Presidential Secretariat on the 8th, stating, "A petition can only be accepted and investigated if it meets the requirements for filing a petition and administrative transfer (referral) has been made."

On the 9th, the Blue House sent another official letter titled 'Regarding the Transfer of Public Petitions.' However, on the 13th, it sent a follow-up letter requesting disposal, stating, "The official letter dated January 9 was sent by mistake, so please discard it," and the NHRCK returned it the same day.

Regarding this, a senior Blue House official explained on the 15th, "One of the official letters sent to the NHRCK was mistakenly sent before the decision to send it was finalized, and upon confirming this, it was discarded."

In its statement, the NHRCK noted, "Since its establishment in 2001, about 700 complaints have been transferred (referred) from the Presidential Secretariat," and "In addition, about 60,000 complaints have been transferred through the National E-People system." This suggests that it is not unusual for the Blue House or other government ministries to send official complaint documents as in this case.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.