(Bangkok) – South Korea maintained its positive human rights record in 2024 despite an increasingly acrimonious political environment and persistent concerns about women’s rights, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2025. The prompt impeachment of President Yoon Seok-yeol following his unexpected and short-lived imposition of martial law on December 3 demonstrated the resiliency of the country’s democratic institutions.
For the 546-page world report, in its 35th edition, Human Rights Watch reviewed human rights practices in more than 100 countries. In much of the world, Executive Director Tirana Hassan writes in her introductory essay, governments cracked down and wrongfully arrested and imprisoned political opponents, activists, and journalists. Armed groups and government forces unlawfully killed civilians, drove many from their homes, and blocked access to humanitarian aid. In many of the more than 70 national elections in 2024, authoritarian leaders gained ground with their discriminatory rhetoric and policies.
“South Korea’s democratic system of checks and balances was severely tested in 2024, and passed the test,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities now need to refocus on the persistent discrimination against women and minorities and other rights concerns, while playing a bigger role in promoting human rights on the world stage.”
Before his impeachment, the administration of President Yoon frequently used criminal defamation cases and South Korea’s overbroad National Security Law to target political opponents, unions, and the media, eroding the freedoms of expression, association, and assembly, rights that his martial law decree would have suspended. The Yoon administration also eroded human rights protections for women and girls; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people; racial minorities; migrants; older people; and people with disabilities.
- The government inadequately addressed underlying gender discrimination and inequality in the country, where women face a large gender wage gap.
- South Korea’s digital sex crime epidemic persisted, including a surge of cases involving the distribution of nonconsensual deepfake sexual images of women and girls. Though the government adopted legislation toughening penalties for offenders, women are frequently unable to obtain legal recourse or government protection.
- The Supreme Court ruled that the country’s National Health Insurance Service must extend dependent benefits to same-sex partners. Yet, the government appointed an opponent of minority and LGBT rights, Ahn Chang-ho, as the next chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea.
- The Yoon administration announced some measures to better promote human rights in North Korea, but did little on the United Nations Security Council to draw attention to Pyongyang’s dismal rights record. Yoon’s government also pledged financial incentives to companies that hire North Korean escapees, but most North Korean escapees in South Korea still face discrimination, receive inadequate government support, and often struggle to make a living.
The South Korean government should pass a comprehensive anti-discrimination law prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, age, race, disability, religion, and other characteristics, Human Rights Watch said. It should hold those responsible for digital sex crimes involving deepfakes to account, provide comprehensive sexuality education, and take meaningful steps to promote gender equality.