▲ Activists asserting the enactment of the anti-discrimination law, in 2021

On June 14, the petition for the enactment of the anti-discrimination law was automatically referred to the National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee with the consent of 100,000 people. The petition is linked to the anti-discrimination law proposed by the Justice Party lawmaker Jang Hye-young a year ago. The bill prohibits discrimination in employment, education, and administrative services, citing gender, disability, age, language, race, sexual orientation, and gender identity.

▲ Press conference of the Justice Party on June 15th

The Justice Party held a press conference at the National Assembly on June 15th and urged other parties to change its stance and to be more active, saying, "The fact that we no longer start discussions under the pretext of 'social consensus' on the people's desire for equality means that we will not take the least responsibility as a public party." Until now, the anti-discrimination law has been blocked by strong opposition from conservative Protestants, preventing parliamentary discussions. The National Assembly's Legislation and Judiciary Committee has not reviewed the anti-discrimination bill proposed by Jang once, for more than a year.

▲ Conservative social organizations marching against the anti-discrimination law

Against this backdrop, Lee Joon-seok, the representative of the People's Power, said in a radio interview on June 14, "We have a consensus on most issues. However, every one of them is subject to social discussion in the process of institutionalization." Along with that, Lee added, "There should be no discrimination against sexual self-identity and such things." Although being cautious about institutionalization, he agreed with the purpose of enacting anti-discrimination laws. Of course, it remains to be seen so far, but Lee's comment is noteworthy in that it is quite different from the atmosphere of the People's Power.

The Democratic Party plans to discuss enacting anti-discrimination laws after dealing with urgent bills on people's livelihoods. Park Wan-joo, chairman of the Democratic Party's policy committee, said in a press conference, "If the pending laws are sorted out to some extent in June, we will prepare a policy committee opinion on anti-discrimination law." However, he did not give a clear answer on whether to adopt the bill as the Democratic Party's opinion.

by Shin Seungwon

June 16, 2021