The State of the World's Human Rights; South Korea 2025

Peaceful protests by disability rights activists were criminalized and protesters were sentenced to imprisonment. A court ruling found requirements for the submission of advance notice for assemblies to be excessive. The declaration of martial law in late 2024 was ruled unconstitutional. The government’s greenhouse gas reduction target remained inadequate, but a new ministry was established with an expanded mandate to address the country’s climate crisis. A legislative amendment was adopted to address technology-facilitated gender-based violence, but enforcement and accountability remained lacking. A bill was proposed to decriminalize abortion. Conscientious objectors were subject to a disproportionate duration of alternative service. LGBTI people faced barriers to legal gender recognition. Migrants and ethnic groups, especially those of Chinese background, faced discrimination.

Background

In April, the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously to impeach then-president Yoon Suk-yeol for his declaration of martial law in December 2024. An early election was held in June, won by Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party. A special prosecutor was appointed to investigate the former government and military leadership for their roles in the martial law declaration.

In March, South Korea was hit by its worst wildfire on record, leaving 30 people dead and burning more than 48,000 hectares of land. From July to September, extreme rainfall caused widespread damage throughout the country, while the hottest summer on record claimed 16 lives.

Freedom of expression, association and assembly

On 7 March, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that the requirement to submit advance notice of outdoor assemblies in person at a police station excessively limited freedom of assembly. The police station that was the subject of the lawsuit appealed to a higher court, but the ruling was upheld, allowing assembly organizers to give notice via other means such as post.

On 18 March, the Supreme Court sentenced Park Kyung-seok, co-representative of NGO Solidarity against Disability Discrimination, to four months in prison and two years of probation for having conducted a peaceful protest in 2021. In September, another disability rights activist was sentenced to one year in prison and two years’ probation for ramming his wheelchair into a police officer during a 2023 protest held in a metro station in the capital, Seoul. In November, a disability rights activist was arrested on charges of assaulting a police officer.

In an April ruling, the Constitutional Court found the proclamation of martial law in December 2024 unconstitutional and a violation of freedom of conscience, assembly and expression.

Right to a healthy environment

In August, the National Policy Planning Committee proposed a transition to renewable energy as one of the government’s key five-year strategic priorities; however, the committee failed to specify the methods for achieving a just transition. The government retained the 2030 greenhouse gas target at 40% reduction compared to 2018 levels, failing to meet the 43% target specified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. In November, the Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth set the country’s 2035 greenhouse gas reduction target at 53-61% compared to 2018.

In October, the new government established a Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment with an expanded mandate compared with its predecessor, the Ministry of Environment, to enable it to address the country’s acute climate-related risks.

Gender-based violence

Technology-facilitated gender-based violence remained a significant challenge. Legislative reforms were adopted to address AI-generated “deepfake” content, including an amendment to the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act. The amendment provided additional resources to national authorities to facilitate the removal of content perpetuating technology-facilitated gender-based violence, from illegal recordings to victims’ personal information. However, enforcement and platform accountability remained limited, leaving survivors with inadequate remedies.

Women’s and girls’ rights

In September, the new government appointed a Minister of Gender Equality and Family, filling a post that had been left vacant since February 2024. The government announced an administrative restructuring of the ministry that include expanding its mandate to provide enhanced personal growth support for teenagers and children, as well as better protection mechanisms for women against physical and online threats such as technology-facilitated gender-based violence and intimate partner violence.

Sexual and reproductive rights

In July, the National Assembly proposed a bill to completely decriminalize abortion and to provide national health insurance coverage for abortion, as well as to make abortion pills publicly accessible. In August, the National Policy Planning Committee identified the provision of abortion pills as one of the government’s key five-year strategic priorities, although it did not provide a concrete roadmap for accomplishing this task.

LGBTI people’s rights

In August, the Seoul District Court decided that legal gender recognition could be based on self-determination, without medical gender-affirming interventions. Nonetheless, individuals seeking legal gender recognition faced financial, physical and psycho-social barriers arising from the lack of a formal law on legal gender recognition in South Korea.

Freedom of religion and belief

Conscientious objectors remained subject to a punitive 36-month alternative service – twice the average duration of military service – confined to correctional facilities under military oversight. The excessive length, detention-like conditions and lack of independence from the military violated freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief, as well as rights to work, family life and cultural participation.

Discrimination

Concerns persisted regarding the discrimination and violence facing migrant workers, including restrictions on changing workplaces, wage theft, industrial accident fatalities, and verbal and physical violence. According to media reports, in February, at a brick factory in the city of Naju, Jeollanam-do province, a Sri Lankan migrant worker was subject to physical violence by his manager at the workplace. President Lee Jae-myung condemned the discrimination and violence manifested towards migrant workers and instructed strong measures be taken to prevent recurrence. The perpetrator was subsequently prosecuted and penalized for workplace abuse.

Throughout the year, anti-Chinese rallies were held in areas with large Chinese communities, such as Daerim-dong and Myeong-dong in Seoul, where expression of hatred was repeatedly aimed at Chinese people, including ethnic Koreans of Chinese nationality.

In May, the CERD Committee expressed concern over the continued rise, both online and offline, in “hate speech and incitement to discrimination in South Korea”. The committee recommended a number of actions to prohibit racist hate speech, including the implementation of public education campaigns to combat prejudice and hostility towards migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.

In July, the government announced a “zero tolerance” policy towards violence, discrimination and human rights abuses against socially vulnerable groups, including foreign workers. It formally acknowledged the need to improve related systems and practices.

Corporate accountability

In May, South Korean heavy equipment manufacturer HD Hyundai asserted that it had “no involvement with activities” in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, despite Amnesty International research showing shipments of excavators between 2021 and 2023 that had been credibly linked to unlawful demolitions.¹ In June, the National Assembly introduced a revised act on the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment for Sustainable Corporate Management, designed to hold companies accountable for human rights and environmental abuses throughout their supply chains by enforcing mandatory human rights due diligence. In July, following criticism of its electric vehicle battery sourcing practices, Hyundai Motors published a sustainability report that outlined plans to expand sustainability assessments to cover tier-2 suppliers and to extend coverage of their responsible minerals policy.

1. “South Korea/Israel/OPT: HD Hyundai machinery used in West Bank demolitions”, 27 March ↩︎