KOREA: Human rights panel rules against age discrimination

. SEOUL, Korea / The Korea Herald / May 14, 2009 The National Human Rights Commission ruled yesterday that disallowing those older than 30 from applying to become a police officer or a firefighter was discriminatory. The human rights panel recommended to the National Police Agency and the National Emergency Management Agency that age limit rules for new recruits be revised, prompting opposition from both agencies. "Physical fitness depends on the individual," the rights commission said in a statement. "It is unreasonable to deprive someone of an opportunity to apply for a job without medical or sociological examination of the correlation between physical ability and age." The panel advised agencies to judge whether an individual is right for the job based on his or her physical fitness and knowledge required for the job, rather than uniformly excluding those who have reached a certain age. The commission's statement came as a result of a probe which started upon petitions last year claiming that the age limit for police officers and firefighters was a violation of human rights. The NPA and the NEMA did not welcome the rights panel's decision. They insist such jobs require great physical strength found only in a certain age group. "France, Japan and Germany also have age limits for police officers," an NPA official said. A NEMA spokesman declined to comment on the subject while an official said the agency was still reviewing whether to accept the recommendation or not. "Firefighters require great body strength as they need to carry equipment weighing more than 20 kilograms and are exposed to much stress and danger," he said. By Kim So-hyun sophie@heraldm.com Copyright 2001 ~ 2009 Herald Media Inc.