The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Chairperson Hyun Byung chul) concluded that professor Lee violated complainant’s personal rights guaranteed under article 10 of Constitution when he asked irrelevant questions including age and major to the complainant who was older than most of classmates during the lecture and advised head of the University concerned to carry out human rights education on professor Lee to prevent recurrence.
The Complainant, Mr Lim, filed a complaint saying that professor Lee made him feel humiliated by asking irrelevant questions such as ‘How old are you?”, “What did you major in college?” and “I’m seriously worried about you.”
Professor Lee, the respondent, stated that he asked those questions only to help the complainant in choosing future career not to insult him.
The NHRCK concluded that given the context of conversation between the complainant and respondent, publicly asking the complainant about his age or major cannot be seen as to advise career of the respondent.
The NHRCK also concluded that the respondent who was older than most of other classmates must have felt insulted by being asked irrelevant and personal questions and advised head of the university concerned to carry out human rights education on the respondent so as to prevent recurrence of similar case.
