National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2020 Police Agency to correct discrimination against people with moderate to severe color blindness in selection of police officers. Meanwhile, in 2020, the Commission monitored human rights improvements in the investigation community. The effort was designed to understand to what degrees its recommendations over the past 20 years were implemented at the patrol station and police substation level, what the general perception is on the ground, and what challenges exist in implementing recommendations. The Commission refined procedures to deal with emergency relief cases with greater efficiency. When a petition is filed for emergency relief, the Commission carries out an on-site or other preliminary inspection to determine if the case is eligible for emergency relief, then reviews possible solutions, and if emergency relief is deemed necessary, refers the case to the standing committee. Revisiting the NHRCK Act for greater independence of the Commission The Commission prepared a revised draft of the NHRCK Act, with provisions to strengthen its independence in terms of organization and budget, expand its role and functions, expand its remedial functions, institute the Military Human Rights Safeguard Program, and be more aligned with existing laws. The revised law will be proposed for legislation in 2021. It also prepared legal basis for an ‘e-petition system,’ which would help people better track the status of their petition and ensure that petitions are handled more efficiently. It also submitted a government proposed partial revision to the NHRCK Act to enable delivery and notification of documents over computer data processing system and associated information network system. Actively responding to changing patterns of discrimination with preliminary study of discrimination criteria Due to deepening bipolarization of the society, the number of discrimination-related petitions filed with the Commission has been on a continuous rise (136 in 2002→1,685 in 2009→2,188 in 2015→2,869 in 2020), with the largest increase associated with discrimination in employment (490 petitions processed in 2016→702 in 2020). Aside a quantitative expansion of discriminationrelated petitions, there has also been a qualitative expansion as a result of enhanced public awareness and changing economic and social environment. Consequently, new issues have 22