Written Information for the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Submitted by National Human Rights Commission of Korea 1. Background of submitting the written information The Republic of Korea submitted its fifteenth and sixteenth periodic draft report (hereinafter referred to as the “draft report”) to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (hereinafter referred to as “NHRCK”) for review in January 2011. Pursuant to Article 21 of the National Human Rights Commission Act, NHRCK reviewed the draft report and recommended its opinion and comments to the Government in February 2011. In February 2012, the Government partially reflected the NHRCK’s opinion and comments in the fifteenth and sixteenth periodic report (hereinafter referred to as the “report”) and submitted the report to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.(hereinafter referred to as “Committee”) During the eighty-first session of the Committee, the report of the Republic of Korea is scheduled for consideration from August 21 to 22, 2012. As the Committee requested the NHRCK to provide written information regarding the report, the NHRCK decided to offer written information that mainly focused on the extent to which the NHRCK’s opinion and comments were reflected in the report. The purpose of providing this information is to foster constructive discussion between the Committee and the Korean delegation, as the NHRCK is aware of the domestic situation regarding the implementation of the International Convention of the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (hereinafter referred to as the “Convention”) and is monitoring the process. 2. Evaluation of the draft report by NHRCK The NHRCK’s overall comments on the Government’s draft report, 1