May 11 – Limiting the age requirements of applicants to be under 30 to apply for selective examinations to become a police officer or firefighter is discriminatory, according to the NHRCK. The NHRCK issued a recommendation calling on the Commissioner General of the Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) and the administrator of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) to amend their official appointment regulations and to remove the age limit.
According to the NHRCK, a complaint was filed by an applicant identified as Mr. Park (34), who claimed the age criteria for appointment of firefighters is discriminatory. Also, a police officer applicant identified as Mr. Uh (31), with eight other applicants, filed a complaint for the same reason.
The KNPA explained that the age limit for police applicants are unavoidable considering the physical duties they perform. “Japan and France also limit the age in appointing police officers,” the KNPA added. The NEMA also claimed that firefighters need to have strong physical strength with technical knowledge, which requires certain age limit.
The NHRCK retorted against the KNPA stating that there is no objective proof that people over 30 years old do not have enough physical condition to perform the duties of a police officer. The Commission also referred to the U.S. where the age limit for police officers requires applicants to be over 21 years old with no upper limit, saying that the case of foreign countries cannot be a reasonable ground to appoint limitations because it differs from country to country.
Regarding the claim of the NEMA, the NHRCK said, “It is understandable that firefighters should have strength and broad knowledge, but age cannot be a standard of judgment for physical or intellectual ability.”
The amended Official Appointment Regulations require that the applicants be above 20 years old to become high-ranking public officials, 18 for low-ranking public officials and 18 for technical officials. The amended regulations do not include provisions which limit the age of Police officers and firefighters applicants.
