Human Rights Commission: "Discrimination in Hiring Due to Expired Criminal Records Constitutes Human Rights Violation"

National Human Rights Commission of Korea building. Photo by Human Rights Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has determined that the military giving disadvantages to civilians during recruitment due to personal criminal records that have been expunged and are unrelated to military security purposes constitutes a human rights violation.

On the 22nd, the Human Rights Commission recommended to the Commander of the Military Security Support Command and the Commander of Army A Division to "establish measures to prevent the recurrence of checking expunged criminal records unrelated to military security purposes and giving disadvantages in recruitment." The Commission also recommended "restricting the reporting of expunged criminal records and establishing security measures by type necessary for base access," urging the military to improve its indiscriminate background check practices.

According to the Human Rights Commission, the petitioner applied for the position of a civilian employee (military housing facility manager) at Army A Division in July last year and received final acceptance notification. However, at a subsequent base security review committee meeting, the petitioner was denied base access due to a criminal record that had already been expunged. The petitioner filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, claiming that they suffered unfair disadvantages in recruitment, such as being unable to report to work.

The opposing party argued that "due to the security review committee's decision deeming the petitioner ineligible for access, the petitioner was unable to enter the base and perform normal duties, making it unavoidable not to hire the petitioner." However, the Human Rights Commission judged that since the petitioner's criminal record was finally expunged in June 2017 and unrelated to military security, the base's decision to deny access constituted giving disadvantages in recruitment.

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