

63

National Human Rights Commissionof Korea: Spearheading Human
Rights Education in Schools
Seung-Mi LeeT

he Korean National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was established in
2002 as a fruitful and successful result of a long and tough struggle against the
Korean government. It was a triumph of the civil society movement. Civil society
leaders went on hunger strike for several days at the end of 1999 and beginningof 2000 notwithstanding severe winter cold in order to force the rejection of thedraft NHRC bill being discussed in the National Assembly at that time. The main
issue of the protest was the independence of the proposed human rights commission from the legislative, the judicial and the executive branches. The government
wanted the proposed human rights commission to be under the Ministry of Justice.
The civil society wanted a human rights commission that has authority to workwithout any restriction and intervention from the Ministry of Justice.
The civil society leaders argued that if the
proposed human rights commission would becontrolled by the State through the Ministryof Justice, it would become a mere “alibi”
national institution.1 They argued that the
Korean government should follow the United
Nations’ (UN) “Principles relating to the Statusof National Institutions”2 (also known as theParis Principles) especially since human rights
violations have most seriously been committed
by the State – through government agencies andpublic organizations. The Ministry of Justice,along with the National Police Agency, was
known as the most anti-human rights officein the government. This anti-human rights
character of the Ministry of Justice fossilized
into organizational environment and system
during the almost three decades of military
dictatorship.

The schools were not free from the general anti-human rights climate in society. The
culture of militarism overwhelmed the school
environment and dominated the psychology ofpeople in the education system. School regulations were notorious examples of human rights
violations, such as when they justify corporalpunishment, violate the privacy of the students,and exclude the students from the decisionmaking process of the school. Human rights
violations were also expressed in the manner
the schools treat the students – not as subjectsof learning but as objects of control similar to
those in prison.
Against this background of tough humanrights situation in the country, the Korean civilsociety was able to force the creation of an independent human rights commission against
the wishes of the government. The NHRC was6364  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

created as an independent and autonomous
state agency. Accordingly, NHRC was authorized to deal with individual complaints and torecommend to relevant entities, including thegovernment, to improve or rectify policies that
violate human rights.
The establishment of NHRC itself provided
a good momentum towards human rights enlightenment in Korean society, where the words“human rights” were very strange for ordinary
people. With the difficulty in finding resource
persons on human rights such as scholars andteachers, the human rights education community had to set the cornerstone of human rights
education in Korea.

Human rights education in the NHRC
Under the recent institutional reform measures, the amended 2005 Regulation on the
Organization of the NHRC (Presidential Decree
No. 19228, 30 December 2005) provides that
the Secretariat of NHRC is comprised of over
two hundred staff members working in five departments and twenty-two teams. The recent organizational restructuring led to major changes
in the department of human rights education.
This department was formerly named “Education and Cooperation Department” that served
human rights education, and international anddomestic relations. Furthermore, the educationteam was in charge of education in schools aswell as in the government (especially the law
enforcement agency) and general public sectors. With the amendment of the regulations,the department was renamed “Education Department”. The department is now composedof three different education teams: School
Education, Public Servant Education, and Civil
Education.
The enlargement and specialization of the
Education Department shows the effort of the
NHRC to fortify its human rights education
program. Previously, seven to eight staff members handled human rights education, now there

are more than twenty staff members divided into
specialized teams.

Tasks of the Education Department
According to Article 26 (Education andPublic Awareness on Human Rights) of the2001 National Human Rights Commission
Act, the NHRC should undertake educationand public awareness-raising activities thatare necessary to raise public consciousness
on human rights. In order to implement thisobjective, the NHRC may consult with: 1) the
Minister of Education and Human Resources
Development for the integration of humanrights education into the school curriculum, 2)
the heads of schools on matters necessary forthe development of human rights education
and research based on Article 2 of the Higher
Education Act, 3) the heads of related state
institutions or local governments for the inclusion of human rights as subject matter in theexamination and training or education courses
for employment and promotion respectivelyof public officials. For lifelong education, theNHRC may recommend the inclusion of humanrights in the educational programs of lifelongeducation organizations or facilities establishedunder the Social Education Act.
The amended 2005 Regulations on the
mission and role of the School Education Team
provide further focus on human rights education in schools. The School Education Team ismandated to:
1.	Establish the system, as well as the coordination, for the implementation of the NHRC
Plan of Action for Human Rights Education
2. Research on laws, systems, institutions, policies and customs and draft recommendations
and opinions for the development of humanrights education in schools
3.	Draft the plan of action for human rights
education in schools
4. Consult with the government agency related
to human rights education in schools

NHRC of Korea: Spearheading Human Rights Education in Schools  65

5.	Develop human rights education programs
and materials in order to improve and intensify human rights education in schools
6. Train trainers for human rights education inschools
7. Conduct surveys and research on domestic
and overseas educational systems and operations related to human rights education inschools
8. Perform other functions not delegated toother teams in the Education Department.

Remedy and Promotion
Based on the Paris Principles, the NHRC
has quasi-jurisdictional competence to provide
remedies for human rights violations by hearing
complaints and undertaking field investigation.
During the first year of its establishment(covering the 26 November 2001 – 31 January
2003 period), NHRC received 3,929 complaints, an overwhelming number for it tohandle. While almost 90 % of the complaints
were eventually dismissed, all complaints were
processed before the decision to either dismissor accept them was made. Furthermore, morethan 30% of complaints came from prisons anddetention facilities where the people cannot bythemselves petition the NHRC on their cases.
This required most of the NHRC staff members to visit the prisons and detention facilities
to provide counseling and receive complaints.
In this situation, providing remedies to humanrights violations involving government agencies
appeared to be the more urgent issue.
Due to this, the human rights education
efforts of NHRC focused more on law enforcement officials, especially the members of thepolice and prison officials. Nevertheless, NHRC
gave substantial consideration of human rights
education in schools in line with the United
Nations Decade for Human Rights Education(1995-2004). In order to promote a cultureof human rights in formal, non-formal andinformal education sectors, the NHRC commenced the development of various readingmaterials from the first year of its establishment:
1) Guideline of human rights education forteachers, 2) Story books for children about thehuman rights of vulnerable groups (children,
aged and people with disabilities, etc.), and 3)
Cartoon books for adults. They were written as
easy-to-read and familiar materials for teachers,
students and citizens.
The human rights promotion endeavorsof NHRC have borne fruit; people talk abouthuman rights in their daily life and are awareof the injustice of discrimination existing in
the Korean society. Even though it took a longtime to build and enhance a pro-human rights
societal environment nationwide, the NHRC
successfully launched its human rights education program in Korea. While people usuallyperceive the role of NHRC as the institution
in the forefront of fighting against humanrights violations, a significant part of its work
is actually the quiet and incessant endeavor tocreate a pro-human-rights societal environment
through education.

Strategies and Endeavors
School System Initiatives
For five years after establishment, NHRC
carried out several substantial projects to promote human rights in schools.
In 2002, NHRC submitted a written opinion about school regulations to the Ministryof Education and Human Resources Development. In summary, the opinion focused on:1) what appropriate action the government
should take to change school regulations inorder to enhance the dignity of students inaccordance with Article 28 of the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child,2) the need to change or abolish the school
regulations on corporal punishment becausesuch punishment adversely affects the students’66  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

psychological condition resulting in depression,anxiety, and antagonism to the school, 3) theneed to change the school regulations relating
to the school management committee in order
to involve students and parents as well as school
administrators as provided for in Article 5 of
the Fundamental Law of Education, 4) theneed to guarantee the students’ political activities (subject to the limitation that they respect
the rights of others) which are banned by thecurrent school regulations, 5) the need to emphasize the right of students to engage in play
and recreational activities, 6) the need to change
the phraseology of the school regulations tomake them readable and understandable to allconcerned parties, and 7) the need for the school
regulations not to treat the students as an objectof control but as subject of rights.
The Ministry of Education and Human
Resources Development and the Local Education Boards ignored the opinion. Subsequently,
however, NHRC received many complaints
on severe violation of the students’ right todetermine their own physical appearance especially about hairstyle. In some schools, theregulations were strictly enforced, for instance,by cutting the hair of students in front of theirschoolmates as one form of punishment. Thispunishment was a good strategy to intimidate
and control the behavior of students, making
them suffer from humiliation as a result. The
same problem emerged with the inspection of
the bags of students without their consent in
the name of guiding them to a proper way ofliving. The school administrators always said
that students must concentrate on their study
and avoid all distractions such as loose hairstyle,inappropriate dress, and prohibited materials.3
Based on the complaints received, NHRC
recommended to the Ministry of Educationand Human Resource Development in 2005
to change the school regulations that severely
restricted hairstyle. Unfortunately, notwithstanding the recommendation, the situation
did not improve. One secondary school gave
a severe official reprimand to a student who

was campaigning for the freedom of students
to determine their own hairstyle and to abolishcompulsory supplementary courses (SARANGBANG, 2006).4
A recent research on the current situationof the students’ human rights in secondary
schools in Korea (Cho, 2006) revealed that
school regulations have not improved mucheven after the NHRC’s 2002 Opinion and the2005 Recommendation.
Also in 2005, NHRC submitted anotherwritten opinion regarding the checking of
diaries of students as a way of teaching writing
skill in primary schools. This issue triggered
an interesting discussion and provided a good
opportunity for instilling human rights sensitivity in schools and also at home. The NHRC
opinion pointed out that even young students
have the right to privacy, and as human beings
they should be respected in the same manner asadults. It further explained that diaries should
be written according to one’s conscience. It
asserted that checking a person’s diary was contrary to human rights principles, and prohibitedfrom being used as means to fulfill the aims ofeducation.5

School curriculum and human rights
education programs
As bases for the development of school
curriculums and programs, the human rights
education team of NHRC along with experts
in related fields analyzed in 2002 the national
school curriculum and school textbooks from ahuman rights education perspective.
The 7th Revision of National Curriculum
led to the 1997 National Basic Curriculum forten subjects in the first ten years of schooling(K1 to K10). The ten subjects are Korean Language Arts, Ethics, Social Studies, Mathematics,
Science, Practical Course, Physical Education,
Music, Arts, and Foreign Language. Textbooks
and teacher’s manuals were developed within
the framework of the new national curriculum.
The textbooks compiled within the framework

NHRC of Korea: Spearheading Human Rights Education in Schools  67

of the new national curriculum were classified
into three types, namely:
a. Type One - those that were copyrighted
to the Ministry of Education and Human
Resources Development
b. Type Two - those authorized by the Minister of Education and Human Resources
Development and published by privatecompanies
c. Type Three - those recognized by the Minister of Education and Human Resources
Development as relevant and useful.
(Ministry of Education & Human Resource
Development, 2005).
NHRC analyzed all Type One textbooks - forall subjects in primary schools and for Ethics,
Korean Language Arts and National History
subjects in secondary schools. For Type Two
textbooks, the two major textbooks of eachsubject in secondary school were selected foranalysis. Based on the project framework whichhighlights the view that human rights are better
taught across the curriculum rather than as anindependent/separate subject,6 the analysis of
the textbooks covered not only the textbooks
for related subjects (such as ethics and social
studies) but for all subjects.
The analysis was based on the international
human rights standards and constitutional law
principles. It showed that Social Studies andEthics subjects dealt with themes related tohuman rights but they were not presented witha human rights perspective. The emphasis was
still on duty and responsibility as a people, noton their rights. Only the Korean Language
Arts textbook for the 6th grade mentioned the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights as areading example. But it was not accompaniedwith background explanation and/or related
activities. The research team concluded that thenational curriculum and textbooks did not yet
employ a human rights perspective. But they
considered as positive aspects in the national
curriculum and the textbooks the inclusionof human-rights-related themes though in a

disparate manner, and the direct and indirect
discussion of human rights in several subjects.
Based on the results of the analysis, theNHRC gave a set of recommendations to the
Ministry of Education and Human Resource
Development for the revision of the textbooks
that infringe on specific group’s human rights
or violate the principles of human rights. The
recommendations addressed: 1) the restrictionof the rights to freedom of expression and association, 2) expressions that foster discrimination
against people with disabilities and women, and
3) activities in a subject that consider slavery as anormal system even at the present time, etc. The
Ministry of Education and Human Resource
Development accepted the recommendations
and revised all parts of the textbooks that the
NHRC considered not in line with humanrights standards.

Development of Human Rights
Curriculum
Considering the results of the analysis,
NHRC initiated a research on the developmentof alternative/model curriculum for humanrights education. It developed in 2003 alternative/model curriculum based on an assessmentof the needs of teachers and focused on thedevelopmental stages of students from kindergarten to secondary school.
The alternative/model curriculum for human rights education promotes the following
ideas: 1) human rights are better taught not as
an independent/separate subject but integrated
into the different subjects in the curriculum;2) human rights education comprises fivecategories - attitude and values that promote
human rights culture, basic concept of humanrights, legal instruments, problem solving,
involvement through action to protect humanrights; 3) human rights education should begin
in early childhood and thus should start in thekindergarten; 4) following the developmental
stages of students, the focus on fostering attitude and value system upholding human rights

68  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

and understanding the basic concept of humanrights should be for kindergarten and primaryschool, the focus on understanding the basic
human rights principles and related laws andinstitutions should be for junior secondary
school, and the focus on human-rights-based
decision-making and social engagement should
be for senior secondary school; and 6) humanrights education should present human rights
concepts progressively (simple to complicatedideas) according to year levels (principle of sequence) and follow the spiral process of learningsimilar to the principle employed in the national
school curriculum. (Moon, 2003)

Development of human rights educational materials
As the next step, NHRC developed thehuman rights education teaching materials forthe primary students (2004), junior secondary
students (2005) and senior secondary students(2005). The materials were distributed to theschools.
NHRC also published during the 20022003 period storybooks related to child rights(for the young students) and human rights of
the aged and the disabled. These storybooks
contributed to the development of humanrights sensitivity of the students in their earlychildhood stage.

Challenges and achievement
For the past five years, NHRC has tremendously contributed to the promotion of humanrights in the Korean society not only by providing remedies for human rights violations but
also by heightening public awareness of humanrights. Korean educators began discussing the
NHRC Recommendations and Opinions. Educators, students and ordinary people who were
not familiar with human rights at all became accustomed with ‘human rights’, even though they
could not fully understand them and perceived
them in a negative way. One thing clear is thatat present human rights are no longer strange
and an irrelevant concept for the people. Thisis the most important achievement in terms ofhuman rights education.
But there are also limitations in the implementation of the human rights education programs. First, notwithstanding several NHRC
Recommendations and Opinions and theattention given to them by related agencies(ministries and local governments), there is still
no developed monitoring system to follow up
on the immediate response or changes being
done by these agencies. According to a recent
research (Cho, 2006), the human rights situation of the students in the secondary school has
not been ameliorated much during the first yearof NHRC. Thus NHRC should follow up on
its recommendations regarding the revision ofschool regulations and develop a monitoring
system including surveys, hearings, forums andincessant education activities for teachers andschool administrators.
Second, the development and implementation of human rights education programs did
not systemically use the NHRC research results.
Since there is a recommendation to integrate theteaching of human rights into different subjects,
the human rights program should be developedin consideration of the way each subject should
deal with human rights. The teacher-training
program should also be designed based on thisframework. However, the human rights education programs for primary, junior secondary andsenior secondary schools developed on theirown, and failed to reach the teachers who should
teach human rights in their own courses.
Third, the over emphasis laid on humanrights sensitivity brought out serious problems.
The NHRC-recommended human rights education program for secondary students (NHRC,
2005), for example, is similar to the program
for the primary students, even though the 2003
NHRC research report has recommended thatthe philosophy of human rights and problem
solving in situations of conflict between individual rights should be the focus in secondary

NHRC of Korea: Spearheading Human Rights Education in Schools  69

schools. (NHRC, 2003) At the start, NHRC
put emphasis on human rights sensitivity to
be able to approach ordinary people and makethem accept “human rights” as a living concept
in their daily life. The emphasis on affectioncentered approach reflects the long period in
the Korean education system of too much stresson the cognitive approach (though it is an important educational approach), which has been
linked to rote learning. (Lee, 2000). But as the2003 NHRC research shows, there is no reason
for hesitation in teaching international humanrights instruments (including their historicalbackground, the meaning of individual rights,
and how they relate to Korean institutions andcustoms) directly to secondary students.
There is a need for a balanced approachto human rights education, keeping in mind
the integrated education approach that covers
knowledge, attitude and skills. Even when the
promotion human rights sensitivity is the major goal, there is still a need for people to gain
better capacity to perceive or interpret humanrights-related situations, to think/consider theeffect of an action on human rights terms, andto recognize/assume the responsibility for an
action on human-rights-related situation. In
sum, human rights sensitivity is a psychological process of acutely perceiving, thinking andrecognizing human-rights-related issues andsituations. (Moon, 2002)

Obstacles to implementing human rights
education programs in schools
There are several hindrances to the implementation of human rights education programs in schools in Korea. First, the lack ofunderstanding of the principle of “interdependence” of human rights can be considered afundamental problem to overcome. Donnelly(1985) argues that human rights are things to
be exercised rather than to have. In order topractice human rights, reciprocal respect forhuman rights between peoples is inevitable.

Starkey (1991) thinks that the sense of mutualinterdependence and defense of the rights ofothers are basic components in addition to theuniversality and indivisibility of human rights.
The rapid introduction of human rights
concepts to the students and people in generalprevented them from having the time to takethem into account in their lives. Their understanding of the concept of human rights did not
dynamically develop since the ending of the long
period of people’s struggle against dictatorships.
Instead it seemed that it was recently transplanted into the Korean society, delinked fromthis democracy movement. Worse, the present
young generation do not relate to this historicaldemocracy struggle experience in Korea.
The rights-based approach, which is emphasized in all the UN documents related tohuman rights education, was misunderstoodas rights-hold7 approach. Many school administrators and teachers refused to include humanrights in school activities.8 Students have been
told that they always argue for their rights andthus hinder the teachers from disciplining them.
There were also neurotic responses from school
officials: “You can introduce any program in
the extra-curricular activities, but do not use
the words human rights.” Resistance to theintroduction of human rights education led tothe teaching of human rights under “character
education” or “citizenship education”.
To overcome the obstacles, first of all, thecurrent implementation of human rights education programs should take more into accountthe substance of the human rights principles.
The United Nations World Programme for Human Rights Education reaffirms that the basic
principles of human rights - interdependence,indivisibility and universality - should be realized throughout the human rights education
exercise. However it is very hard to find programs based on Korean context that focus on
these principles.
Also, human rights education programs
should have a balance between issue-based andprinciple-centered approaches. And an approach70  HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ASIAN SCHOOLS

that balances attitude, knowledge, and skills
should also be considered.

Conclusion
Korea is in a transition period towards anadvanced society that “advocates human rights”.
While the NHRC has been confronting many
adversities, it has numerous achievements inthe promotion and protection of human rights
in the Korean society. However, it still lacks
the capability to reach a more advanced phasewith the established and systematized instruments for realizing human rights promotion.
Human rights education in Korean schools isin this situation.
Reaching this advanced phase is not an easytask but it should be done to be able to change
the attitude of all stakeholders in the education
field (government officials, school administrators, teachers, and students), and promote
human-rights-friendly climate in schools. The
NHRC should take into account the “whole
school approach” which encompasses curriculum-based human rights education, interaction
among students and teachers to promote humanrights, school environment based on the cultureof human rights, community-based humanrights education activities, and social engagement to practice human rights.
In May 2007, NHRC submitted to the government a draft bill on human rights education
entitled “Agenda for Human Rights Education
Act” to enhance human rights education andincrease human rights awareness nationwide.9
The bill will soon be submitted to the National
Assembly for enactment into law. Once enacted,
this law will be a substantial achievement in thefield of human rights education. It will spread
human rights education very effectively, especially in relation to government officials andteachers. However, it is also necessary to listen
to other concerns. Instead of being a compulsory task of people, human rights education
should be self-initiated and self-regulated.

References
Cho, K.J. 2006. Report of the Research in the Current
Situation of Students’ Human Rights in the Secondary
Schools, unpublished report. Seoul: Korean National
Human Rights Commission.
Donnelly, J. 1985. The Concept of Human Rights. New
York: St. Martin’s Press.
Educational Research Institute of Seoul National University. 2003. Research on Human Rights Education
Curriculum of Kindergarten, Primary and Secondary
School. Seoul: Korean National Human Rights
Commission.
Lee, S.M. 2000. An Experimental Analysis of Cognitiveand Emotional Components of a Human Rights Education Program. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation.
Seoul: National University.
Moon, Y.L. 2002. Developing Indicators of Psychological
Scale for Human Rights Sensitivity in Korea. Unpublished Report. Seoul: Korean National Human
Rights Commission.
Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development. 2005. Education in Korea. Seoul: Ministry of
Education & Human Resource Development.
NHRC. 2004. Everybody has right to be happy: Human
Rights Education Program for Primary School. Seoul:
Korean National Human Rights Commission.
______ 2005. Human Rights, It’s Precious to all Human
Beings: Human Rights Education Program for JuniorHigh School. Seoul: Korean National Human Rights
Commission.
______ 2005. The Human Being is No Other Than
Heaven: Human Rights Education Program for Secondary School. Seoul: Korean National Human Rights
Commission.
SARANGBANG for Human Rights. 2006. Press Release: Protest against reprimanding the student. Seoul:
SARANGBANG for Human Rights.
Starkey, H. 1991. The Challenge of Human Rights Education. London: Cassell.

Endnotes
1
See Report of the United Nations SecretaryGeneral, “National institutions for the promotion andprotection of human rights”, A/50/452, 20 September
1995 in http://www.un.org/documents/ga/docs/50/plenary/a50-452.htm
2
See Annex, United Nations General Assembly
Resolution 48/134 (20 December 1993).
3
The implementation of this policy has however

NHRC of Korea: Spearheading Human Rights Education in Schools  71
been very arbitrary. The real objective of the bag checkis to control the general behavior of students. According
to the survey by Ministry of Education and Human Resource Development (May 2005), 92.6% of the juniorsecondary schools and 91.0% of the senior secondary
schools set restriction on hair-style: thirty-two juniorsecondary schools and forty-four senior secondary
schools cut the students’ hair by force with scissors orhair clippers in the schools. (Cho, 2006)
4
The student was reprimanded, one step before
expulsion from school. This triggered many demonstrations to protest the school decision.
5
In the textbook on National Language for 6th
grade under the 7th National Curriculum, one reading
tells of a 6th grade student writing her own diary named“Mirror” and expressing her inner voice. From this story
the students at a certain development stage should become very sensitive to the right to privacy.
6
There is still controversy on which is proper:
human rights education across the curriculum or as
independent subject. In principle one can agree thatthe cross-curricular themes are more relevant to humanrights education in terms of methodology and contents.
However, there is still the argument that if it is notestablished as an independent subject, schools in Korea

can easily discard it. However at the same time, if humanrights education is set up as an independent subject, it
will degenerate into learning by rote memorizing as
subject for entrance examinations. Therefore NHRC
tried to integrate human rights to the related themes
in all the subjects.
7
Donnelly (1985) explains “rights-hold” as either
being the object of rights or passive retention/keepingof rights, which makes the exercise of rights virtually
impossible. He believes that rights are more of social
practice than “things” and thus it is more important toknow how they “work” than what they “are.”8
Whenever I gave a special lecture on human rights
education to teachers, the first questions I received were
“I worry that human rights education will make students
become more naughty”, “My school takes into accountgood-mannered students, but human rights education
does not seem to be incompatible with etiquette education”. The teachers perceived human rights education
as “abuse of rights” education.
9
See 2 May 2007 press release from the NHRC,“NHRCK Submits a Legislative Plan on Human Rights
Education,” www.humanrights.go.kr/eng/nhrc/news/
nhrc02_01_view.jsp