the Directive on the Execution of Confinement in a Guardhouse and Standards for Treatment
of Those Confined clearly stipulate that the disposition of confinement in a guardhouse shall
not be notified to a third party when demanded as such by the subject of the disposition, and the
disclosure of the details of disciplinary action is to be controlled and determined by the subject
of such disciplinary action. Nonetheless, the charges against the petitioners' that led to their
transfer and the details of the disposition were notified to their families against their will, and
we concluded that this was a violation of the petitioners' privacy guaranteed in Article 17 of the
Constitution.
notify the petitioners' parents of their transfer considering the common practices of Korea, we
concluded that it was reasonable to seek the improvement of such practices through on-the-job
education rather than holding the petitionee liable.
C. Detention Facilities
Illegitimate Censoring of Letters and Punishment
On August 29, we recommended that the Minister of Justice prevent the recurrence of
censoring the letters of and punishing inmates on the grounds that they file petitions or their
letters are addressed to press organizations and to cancel the decision of the facility to punish the
petitioner concerning this specific case.
This petition was filed after an inmate attempted to send a letter to a press organization about a
case witnessed at the detention facility and the detention facility censored this letter, disapproved
its dispatch on the grounds that it presented false information, and punished the inmate.
We viewed that letters of inmates should be censored only when they are deemed to pose
a justifiable threat and it should be strictly reviewed whether a case requires censoring as an
exception.
Based on these criteria, we concluded that it was illegitimate to censor the letter simply
because it was addressed to a press organization and that it was a violation of the petitioner's
right of action and communication guaranteed in Articles 10 and 17 of the Constitution for the
petitionee to disapprove the dispatch of the letter and punish the petitioner as the letter arguing
National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2018
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Part 2 | Commission's Major Activities
However, as it can be flexibly viewed as an effort to serve as a responsible unit leader to