National Human Rights Commission of Korea Annual Report 2021 Investigations and remedies of human rights violations In 2021, the number of petitions filed in relation to human rights violations was 7,430, which is 873 (13.3%) more compared to the previous year. The increase can be attributed to a recovery of or increase in the number of cases involving educational institutions, the police, and central administrative agencies, which had dipped in 2020 due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of petitions processed was 6,839, which is 460 (7.2%) more compared to the previous year. The number of remedied cases was 695, which is 64 (10.1%) more cases over the previous year. Accordingly, the rate of remedied cases also rose 0.3%p to 10.2%, reverting the downward trend observed in 2020. The Commission continued to make recommendations to remedy violations of human rights by state organizations. These include recommendations regarding infringement of a plaintiff’s right to know because the police did not notify him of the reason why his case was not sent to the public prosecutor’s office; the maritime police disclosing details of an investigation into the killing of a public official by North Korean troops; the military not recognizing the death of a soldier as death on duty; the Naval Academy heavily sanctioning cadets for being in a relationship; inmate deaths caused by a group infection of COVID-19; local governments’ excessive disclosure of the personal information of people who tested positive for COVID-19; suspension of search inside a sunken vessel at deep sea; and a school not allowing students to use a bike for commute. Investigations and remedies of discrimination In 2021, the number of petitions filed in relation to discrimination was 2,559, which is an increase of 174 (7.3%) compared to the previous year. Though the number of petitions filed for discrimination against disabled persons was on the fall for two consecutive years since 2020 due to reduced outside activities by disabled persons under the prolonged pandemic situation, the overall increase in petitions filed can be attributed to a continuous rise in collective petitions filed for feminism backlash and reverse discrimination, and those filed for other miscellaneous reasons owing to heightened social sensitivity on fairness and equality. Meanwhile, a total of 2,410 discrimination-related petitions were processed, which is 469 less (16.3%) than in 2020. This is likely due to a decrease in the cumulative number of discriminationrelated petitions from 2020, coupled with the conclusion of hard long-term cases that were 22