The National Human Rights Commission of Korea instructed ruling Democratic Party of Korea leader Rep. Lee Hae-chan to take courses on disability rights awareness in a legally binding recommendation issued Wednesday, after complaints that he had made discriminatory remarks on several occasions.
Lee said during an online broadcast on the party’s YouTube channel in January, “People born with a birth defect are said to be weak-willed.”
Following the broadcast, disability advocacy groups filed complaints with the rights commission, citing repeated discriminatory remarks from the party chief.
At a December 2018 meeting of the party’s committee for people with disabilities, he also said, “There are some mentally challenged people who can seem normal on the outside.”
The public human rights watchdog said it decided on the measure during a plenary session Monday. Subjects of the commission’s formal recommendations are obliged to act on them within 90 days of their issuance.
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