The nation’s human rights watchdog said Friday it is discriminatory to favor male candidates over their female counterparts for cleaning staff supervisor positions at post offices. 

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea made the ruling on a complaint filed by a 57-year-old woman surnamed Kim, who applied in 2015 for a cleaning manager position at the Post Office Management Administration. 

During her job interview, she was asked how she would manage and supervise male janitors. She failed to win the job. 

According to the NHRC, a male applicant, without any experience in cleaning services, was hired, contrary to the recruitment notice that an experienced applicant would be preferred. 

The NHRC also pointed out a male-dominated workplace culture at the company, which handles the management and maintenance of the nation’s postal offices. 

The POMA, which refused to admit that it left out female candidates because of their gender, currently has all of its 23 cleaning teams supervised by men. All 64 of its local offices are also headed by men. 

By Kim Da-sol (ddd@heraldcorp.com)