NHRC Issues Recommendation to Director and Vice-Director of the Government Information Agency of Korea to End Such Conduct
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ruled that coercing a resignation against one’s will and deliberately excluding the person in question from the work of the office is conduct violating human rights, and issued a recommendation to the director and vice-director of the Government Information Agency of Korea (GIA) to put an end to such behavior. The recommendation follows a May 2003 complaint charging that, “it is unjust to coerce a public official in extraordinary civil service to resign and exclude that person from the work of the office in order to resolve the overstaffing of public officials in general service and out of a desire to introduce innovative personnel practices.”
The NHRC found that first, unlike public officials in general service, public officials in extraordinary civil service have limited guarantees to their status and, since they are appointees, the appointing authority is recognized as possessing broad discretion; however, the State Public Officials Act can be interpreted as setting limits on issuing dispositions of dismissal to public officials in extraordinary civil service corresponding to the restrictions on ex officio dismissal and guarantee of status to those in general service. Second, if the complaint respondents found the complainant’s continued service extremely unsuitable, it would have been more appropriate to have furnished objective and reasonable grounds, and through legal procedures, seek a disposition of dismissal against the complainant.
Although the Commission recognizes that the respondents’ conduct stemmed from inevitable measures taken to resolve their overstaffing problems and reinvigorate the organization; nevertheless, the Commission found that such conduct infringed article 10 (right to dignity and pursuit of happiness) and article 15 (occupational freedom) of the Korean Constitution and thus recommended that such conduct be curbed in the future.
