Human Rights Commissioners Accused of Bullying by Staff Union

The labor union at South Korea's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has accused commissioners Kim Yong-won and Lee Choong-sang of engaging in bullying and verbal abuse, likening their behavior to that of "school bullies." The union claims the commissioners used offensive language, including calling senior officials "worthless" and staff members "trash."

Specifically, the union reported that Lee Choong-sang allegedly made derogatory remarks such as "you're rude" to a former chairperson and used terms like "office manager trash," "director trash," "garbage reporters," "human rights merchants," and "shut up."

However, Lee Choong-sang has refuted these allegations. He stated that while he does not speak for Commissioner Kim Yong-won, he himself has never engaged in such verbal abuse at the NHRC. Lee claims his comments were factual and related to specific instances of misconduct, such as the creation of false official documents by one staff member, and that these remarks do not constitute workplace harassment.

Furthermore, Lee argues that the special audit conducted on him, which found him to be a perpetrator of "workplace harassment" against four employees, was unlawful. He asserts that human rights commissioners are not subject to such audits under the law. The NHRC union had previously reported that Lee was confirmed as a perpetrator of workplace harassment in a July 2024 audit report, yet he remained in his position due to his status as a political appointee. The report also noted that Lee publicly criticized one of the employees involved as a "criminal" even after the audit's completion.