Uiryeong-gun Faces Conflict with Local Groups over 'Human Rights Ordinance'

Members of the Uiryeong County Christian Association held a press conference in front of the county office on the 18th, urging to "halt all administrative procedures for the enactment of the Uiryeong County Ordinance on the Guarantee and Promotion of Human Rights and humbly accept the opinions of the residents and the Uiryeong County Christian Association." Photo by Uiryeong County Christian Association

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Ju Cheol-in] The Uiryeong County in Gyeongnam is embroiled in ongoing conflicts with the Uiryeong County Christian Federation over the ‘Ordinance on the Guarantee and Promotion of Human Rights in Uiryeong County’ that the county is promoting.

Members of the Uiryeong County Christian Federation held a press conference in front of the county office on the 18th, issuing a statement demanding that Baek Sam-jong, the acting county governor of Uiryeong who ignored the Christian Federation, wake up. They urged, “Stop all administrative procedures for the enactment of the Ordinance on the Guarantee and Promotion of Human Rights in Uiryeong County and humbly accept the opinions of the residents and the Uiryeong County Christian Federation.”

They also protested, saying, “Since the legislative notice of the ordinance in October, the Uiryeong human rights ordinance has followed the recommendations of the National Human Rights Commission, which protects sexual minorities, etc., verbatim. We attempted several times to meet with the acting governor to point out the problems of the ordinance, but these attempts failed.”

Uiryeong County issued a legislative notice for the Ordinance on the Guarantee and Promotion of Human Rights in Uiryeong County on the 19th of last month and passed the proposal for the ordinance through the Uiryeong County Ordinance and Rules Deliberation Committee on the 17th. The county council intends to handle it at the second regular meeting scheduled for the 25th.

The background for Uiryeong County’s push to enact the human rights ordinance is the recommendation by the National Human Rights Commission since 2012 for local governments to establish human rights ordinances.

The Uiryeong County Christian group argued, “Although universal human rights are already sufficiently guaranteed by the Constitution, enacting the Uiryeong human rights ordinance will waste Uiryeong County’s taxpayers’ money, which has a low financial independence rate, through the implementation of human rights education, payment for human rights education instructors, and manpower support due to the establishment of a dedicated human rights department.”

They added, “It is problematic that Uiryeong County uses the recommendations of the Human Rights Commission as the standard for human rights-related ordinances. The Human Rights Commission shows ideological bias through the National Human Rights Basic Plan by advocating for the prohibition of discrimination against homosexuality and transgender people, the repeal of the ban on homosexuality in the military, the abolition of the National Security Law, and strengthening human rights education on homosexuality for schools and public officials.”

Meanwhile, the Uiryeong County Christian group plans to continue rallies until the 25th, protesting against the administrative department, which is in charge, verbally promising to abolish the human rights ordinance but then pushing forward with the administrative proposal.

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