Ministry of National Defense and Air Force Accept Human Rights Commission's Recommendation to Improve Active Duty Support for Colorblind Individuals

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

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The National Human Rights Commission announced on the 2nd that the Air Force and the Ministry of National Defense have accepted its recommendation to improve the current system that excessively restricts colorblind individuals from applying for active duty service.

The Human Rights Commission had previously recommended in April last year that the Air Force and the Ministry of National Defense review the degree and necessity of restrictions based on color vision deficiencies in the active duty selection system and improve related systems to prevent unreasonable disadvantages to colorblind applicants. In response, the Chief of Staff of the Air Force and the Minister of National Defense accepted the Commission's recommendation and reported that they have expanded the number of Air Force military occupational specialties and professional skill fields available to colorblind applicants from 4 to 21 out of the existing 27 fields, and are currently implementing this change. Additionally, the Minister of National Defense presented plans to expand the Army's colorblind-eligible specialties from 137 to 177 out of the existing 243 specialties, and the Navy's from 36 to 38.

The Human Rights Commission stated, "We will continue to make sustained efforts to eliminate discrimination based on physical conditions such as color vision deficiencies without reasonable grounds."

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