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The S. Korean National Human Rights Commission/NHCR was established, according to its self-conception as a "national advocacy institution for human rights protection. It is committed to the fulfillment of human rights in a broader sense, including dignity, value and freedom of every human being, as signified in international human rights conventions and treaties to which Korea is a signatory".
 

Article 1 of the National Human Rights Commission Act: "The purpose of this Act is to contribute to the embodiment of human dignity and worth as well as to the safeguard of the basic order of democracy, by establishing the National Human Rights Commission to ensure that inviolable, fundamental human rights of all individuals are protected and the standards of human rights are improved."

But when you read the following two news reports you'll find out that the (current) reality is complete different!!

1. Today's Yonhap report (via Korea Herald):

Rights body draws fire over disabled protesters

The state human rights watchdog has come under fire for recently asking police to forcibly quell a sit-in by disabled protesters at its building in downtown Seoul, civic activists said Monday, accusing the agency of contradicting its perennial pledge to protect the rights of the socially underprivileged.

About 160 disabled activists from across the nation went to a sit-in protest last Thursday after occupying the offices of the National Human Rights Commission(*), demanding the commission chairman resign and restrictions on financial aid for the disabled be eased. Most of the activists had withdrawn from the building by late Friday, but a dozen protesters stayed and staged a sit-in throughout the weekend.

The NHRC sent an official document on the second day of the protest asking police to disperse the protesters, mostly in wheelchairs, civic activists said, claiming that its request goes against its role to protect underprivileged people, like the disabled.

The NHRC explained the request was an inevitable decision to normalize its operation.

“(The protesters) did not get out no matter how many times we have persuaded them (to leave), so we had to normalize the official business as soon as possible before being paralyzed. We were left with no option,” an NHRC official said.

Several troops of riot police surrounding the building currently remain on standby for a possible conflict, according to officials.

“We are discussing measures against the remaining protesters considering their special status as disabled people,” a police official said.

Founded in 2001 during the administration of then-President Kim Dae-jung, the human rights watchdog has a symbolic standing in a country where individuals’ rights were violated by past authoritarian regimes. But its chairman, Hyun Byung-chul, who took office as chairman of the commission in July 2009, has come under pressure to resign after members of the commission quit en masse in protest against him for his failure to speak on key issues that are sensitive for the government.

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20101206000726

2. Last Friday(12.03) Yonhap News Agency reported that...

South Korea's state human rights agency will submit a bill next week to recommend the government resume anti-North Korea propaganda broadcasts on the border, officials said Friday, amid heightened tension on the Korean Peninsula after the North's shelling on a South Korean island.

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said a nine-member meeting will discuss the proposal on the resumption of the propaganda broadcasts on Monday and put it to a vote.

The bill, proposed by six conservative commissioners, advises the government to resume anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts on the heavily armed border to show the real state of the world to the people inside the reclusive country. The first proposal was put to a vote in June, but failed to win a majority vote.

Loudspeakers are designed to send broadcasts up to 24 kilometers into North Korea's interior at night and 10 kilometers during the day. Pyongyang has consistently warned that it will shoot the loudspeakers if they are turned on.

Citing the North's military provocations, the NHRC is calling for the passing of a North Korean human rights bill, while opposing another bill on allowing civic groups to establish North Korean human rights foundations, both pending at the National Assembly, according to officials...

  
The proposal is likely to draw criticism as critics argue that it could feed already high tension near border areas and say anti-Pyongyang propaganda goes beyond the NHRC's original role.

* Related article:
☞ Rights agency occupied by disabled (K. Times, 12.03)