[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-eun] Amid the ongoing first audit of the 21st National Assembly, a disability organization has filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission for not providing sign language interpretation and subtitles during the National Assembly audit internet live broadcast.
On the 13th, People Breaking Down the Walls of Disability (Jangaebyeokheolmugi) announced that they submitted a discrimination complaint to the Human Rights Commission naming National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seok and Secretary-General Kim Young-chun as respondents. This was because the live broadcast of the National Assembly audit did not provide sign language interpretation and subtitles, infringing on the right to know of hearing-impaired individuals.
Jangaebyeokheolmugi monitored the National Assembly audit live broadcast and confirmed that sign language interpretation and subtitles were not provided in any of the videos.
The hearing-impaired individuals who filed the complaint tried to watch the Ministry of Health and Welfare audit held on the 7th via mobile broadcast, but since subtitles and sign language interpretation were not provided in the broadcast video, they could not understand the content through the live broadcast.
In response, Jangaebyeokheolmugi pointed out, "The National Assembly is the institution that enacted the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities, and the current Act states that information providers must ensure that persons with disabilities and non-disabled persons have equal access to information."
They also stated through the discrimination complaint that they will request the provision of sign language and subtitles for upcoming National Assembly audits related to persons with disabilities, such as those by the Health and Welfare Committee and the Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee, and furthermore, they will sequentially request sign language interpretation and subtitle provision for all National Assembly standing committee audit live broadcast videos.
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