Human Rights Commission: "Failure to Disclose Purpose and Identity During Public Official Quarantine Inspections Constitutes 'Violation of Due Process'"

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Dong-hoon] The National Human Rights Commission has judged that local government officials failing to disclose their purpose and identity when conducting crackdowns related to preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is a violation of the constitutional principle of due process.

On the 23rd, the Human Rights Commission announced that it recommended the mayors of the relevant local governments to provide job training so that officials can disclose the purpose and content of administrative guidance and their identity when performing crackdown duties.

Mr. A, who operates a "Myu-bi-bang," claimed that on September 5, city hall officials who came to his establishment took photos outside without revealing their purpose or identity and asked about the reasons for business operation, arguing that such actions violated the principle of due process and freedom of occupation.

At that time, the area was under social distancing level 2, and karaoke rooms were subject to closure orders. However, the Myu-bi-bang operated by the complainant was classified as a record and music video production business and was not subject to administrative orders.

In response, city hall employees explained that the police who had already arrived told Mr. A that they were affiliated with city hall, and Mr. A explained that since they did not ask separately about their affiliation or names, he did not feel the need to disclose them. Mr. A also raised the issue with city hall, but the city judged through its own investigation that there was no illegal or improper matter.

The Human Rights Commission stated, "Local government officials have an obligation under the Administrative Procedures Act to disclose the purpose of administrative guidance and their identity to the parties when conducting crackdown duties or administrative guidance, and failing to disclose such information is inappropriate."

The Commission further judged, "In the absence of urgent circumstances or reasonable reasons at the time, the respondents' failure to disclose the purpose of administrative guidance and their identity exceeded the limits of appropriate administrative guidance and violated the constitutional principle of due process."

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