2019, Vol.2, No.1

Journal of Human Rights Studies 2023 KCI Impact Factor : 0.67

pISSN : 2635-4632 / eISSN : 2765-6748
https://journal.kci.go.kr/jhrs

This study is to analyze the discourses on human rights producedin the process of enacting the anti-discrimination act of Korea bysocial representation theory. This study aims to analyze the aspectof polarization of human rights discourse. In order to analyze thediscourse of human rights in Korea, the author collected about5,800 articles on the anti-discrimination act from 2000 to 2019from major Korean newspaper and other mass media to constructcorpus. The corpus analysis conducts through a text mininganalysis, which is an automated text analysis method forsummarizing a large number of the document. As a result of theanalysis, human rights have the character of polarized discoursewith the socio-political context. In particular, human rights in Koreareveal aspects of discourse that constitute a negative discourse onthe anti-discrimination act. This result shows that human rights arenot a universal concept but a controversial concept with layeredmeaning. Also, human rights have the character of social representation as interpreted and used according to the intrinsicnorm of organization. This result is meaningful as empiricalresearch that can be useful in the process of enacting human rightspolicy by revealing the discourse that ideas of layered human rightsin Korean society.

The consistent denial by the Korean Supreme Court and theSeoul Administrative Court to the claims of asylum seekers basedon sexual orientation or gender identity does not accord with theprotective purpose of the Refugee Convention. Since the possibility or sustainability of concealment of one’ssexual orientation is not purely controllable by one’s will and suchconcealment should not be forced, past experience of concealmentor future possibility of concealment shall not serve a standarddetermining risk of persecution. The Seoul Administrative Court, relying on plaintiff’s pastexperience of heterosexual experience, has decided to deny thesexual orientation of the plaintiff. Moreover, without a carefulconsideration about judicial realities regarding sexual minorities, orthe distribution and level of prejudice against sexual minorities, itsimply denies the risk of persecution of a plaintiff relying on thepossibility to receive judicial relief in the country of origin, InternalFlight or Relocation Alternative or abolition of anti-homosexualActs. These judgements by the Supreme Court and Seoul Administrative Court deviate from international standards regarding asylum claimsbased on sexual orientation or gender identity, and shall bemodified to pursue the protective purpose of the RefugeeConvention.

Work is a dual project with amazing possibilities and dangers. Inother words, Work is a source of joy, pride, recognition and socialsolidarity that individuals need to establish their identity, and is alsoa threat to their lives and health through problems of labor safety,ranging from accidents to workaholics. This “duality” inherent inlabor can also apply to refugee aid activists, who are SocialActivist-Workers. In this article, I would like to look at thecorrelation between the characteristics of the labor process of sociallabor, considered relatively good labor, and the possibility of thelabor risk that activists, social workers, can face. Social workers arethose who reproduce society. That is why their crisis andunsustainability are likely to lead to the crisis and unsustainabilityof the lives of citizens and their society. And the crisis of thisclass is accompanied by the treatment problem of labor condition atthe center, but it has a personality that can never be returned to it. Therefore, by identifying, preventing and taking measures againstlabor health problems that Social Activist-Workers may face,building the sustainability of civil society movements based on their“good work” would be a very important task for a “good society”.