Information on the Implementation of
the Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities in the Republic of
Korea
16.2 Continued discrimination against persons with disabilities in purchase of
insurance
1) Current status and problems
① Article 17 of the Anti-Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities Act stipulates that a provider of financial products and services shall not restrict, segregate, exclude or reject persons with disabilities without any legitimate
grounds in offering insurance policies.
② The Commission issued a recommendation on August 22, 2005 to the Minister of Justice, Minister of Strategy and Finance, Governor of the Financial
Supervisory Service (FSS) and Prime Minister to delete Article 732 of the
Commercial Act, revise the Insurance Business Act and amend the criteria for
deliberation on common contracts for persons with disabilities.
③ The government amended Article 732 of the Commercial Act, which stipulated that “insurance policies that insure the death of minors under the age of
15 years, persons with insanity or mental and physical weakness are invalid”,
and installed a conditional provision that in case of persons who were mentally capable can purchase an insurance policy. However, there is controversy
over who would judge their mental capability and the vagueness of the concept. In relation to this, the government’s reservation on Article 25 (e) of the
Convention remains effective.
④ Meanwhile, the amendment of the Insurance Business Act in 2010 installed a
new provision in Article 97 to prohibit “actions to unreasonably deny the purchase of insurance by persons with disabilities pursuant to Article 2 of the Anti-Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities Act”. In addition, the Commission issued the Recommendation on Guidelines and Medical and Statistical Research to Improve the Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities
in Insurance to the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS), Ministry of Health
and Welfare and the National Health Insurance Service on November 26,
2012, but complaints on discrimination in insurance due to disability filed at
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION OF KOREA
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