Original article in Korean is at this link.

A study has found that cases of sex discrimination and sexual harassment reported to the National Human Rights Commission (국가인권위원회) are increasing every year.

According to the NHRC on the 8th, which was the 103rd International Women’s Day, cases of sex discrimination and sexual harassment have increased 25-fold in the past eight years, from 13 cases in 2002 to 336 cases in 2010.

In particular, sexual harassment-related allegations went from just one in 2002 to 107 in 2006 , 151 in 2008, and 212 in 2010, a large increase.

Allegations of sex discrimination or being treated differently on account of sex increased 10-fold between 2002 and 2001.

Cases of alleged sex discriminiation totaled 12 in 2002, 28 in 2004, 37 in 2006, 56 in 2008, and 124 in 2010, increasing every year and the majority of allegations came from women.

Since 2002, when the NHRC began operating, there have been a total of 528 allegations of sex discrimination and 869 allegations of sexual harassment.

The NHRC said in its statement observing International Women’s Day that “50% of women in our country participate in the workforce, 10% below the OECD average, and so our society still needs to take action on this and other women’s rights-related issues.”

The statement added that “discrimination against women takes complex and indirect forms, so it can easily be overlooked… compared to the past, women’s status has improved, but solutions to sex discrimination need particular strong effort to be internalized.”