Preface 2022 was a prominent year for human rights issues under disaster and catastrophe situations. Natural disasters and deaths caused by climate change have sparked discussions on disaster safety issues for the vulnerable class and their impact on human rights, and during the course of Itaewon crowd crush on Oct. 29 and the follow-up measures, issues of secondary harm, such as the government’s disaster prevention and response system and hate speeches against victims, emerged. Industrial disasters, such as the death of a worker at a bakery factory and the collapse of the Bonghwa Mine, have received attention of the society. There were other human rights issues that have not been resolved for a long time or newly emerging. The subway protests surrounding the budget for the rights of persons with disabilities, which have continued since 2021, and the controversy over the abolition of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family are still ongoing. Moreover, there were issues raised on the changing of the perception of the ‘family suicides’ as a ‘filicide-suicide’ and attempting to abolish the local human rights ordinance. When human rights demands in various fields are increasing, it is of paramount importance to continue to ensure basic human rights and to protect the rights of the most vulnerable members of our society, especially children, women, the elderly, the disabled and migrants. Our society has improved human rights violation practices through the efforts of many people for a long time, and human rights sensitivity has improved tremendously. However, we must continue to exert efforts to keep such accomplishment — otherwise, the human rights situation may deteriorate any time. As part of this effort, the NHRCK is publishing the report on human rights situation in Korea since 2021 that discusses the overall human rights situation in our society. It was necessary to review the human rights situation of the year and think about how to proceed in order to actively respond to the newly emerging human rights issues.