II. Korea’s Human Rights Status 2022:
Focusing on People’s Awareness
As COVID-19 pandemic continued throughout the world, the Korean society began to
return to normal as the social distancing was lifted in April 2022. The two elections during
this time were opportunities to discuss general social agendas to resolve issues from
COVID-19 pandemic and to respond to the changes. However, various human rights issues
confirmed during this process showed the need to improve the human rights situations in
Korean society.
The Korean National Human Rights Survey conducted by the NHRCK in 2022 shows that
many people view Korea’s human rights situation as similar to before. To a question on
whether Korea’s human rights situation is improving, 31.2% responded “getting better
(much better and slightly),” which is 5.1%p lower than 2021, but 58.5% responded “same as
before,” which is 5.0%p increase from 2021 and 16.4%p increase from 2020. Ultimately,
only 9.3% responded that Korea’s human rights situation is deteriorating.
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