NHRCK: Gwangju Office of Education's Information Leak Constitutes Human Rights Violation

Audit Office Delivered Civil Petition Documents Containing Personal Information
NHRCK Recommends "Recurrence Prevention Training" for Relevant Staff

The Gwangju Office of Education has been found by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) to have violated the constitutional right to informational self-determination by providing civil petition documents containing names, addresses, and contact information to external parties without the petitioner’s consent. The NHRCK recommended that the Gwangju Superintendent of Education provide privacy protection training to relevant staff and take measures to prevent recurrence.

The Gwangju Human Rights Office of the NHRCK announced on the 1st that on June 6, it recommended the Gwangju Superintendent of Education to conduct privacy protection training for staff in the audit office and to disseminate this case to all staff to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

National Human Rights Commission Gwangju Human Rights Office.

This petition was filed by Mr. A, an activist from the civil group “Society Without Academic Cliques” and a Gwangju Office of Education Integrity Citizen Auditor. In March 2024, Mr. A submitted an opinion letter through the National Petition Portal requesting improvements in the operation of the Integrity Citizen Auditor system. The next day, the document was shared with some Integrity Citizen Auditors. The document contained the petitioner’s personal information, including name, organization address, contact number, and email address.

In response, the Office of Education explained that the petitioner had agreed to “disclosure of contents,” and that partial sharing was inevitable given the nature of the opinion regarding the auditor system. They added that the copying was done upon request and that the matter was not formally included as an agenda item for a meeting.

However, the NHRCK determined that consent to disclosure cannot be interpreted as consent to disclose personal information. The Commission stated, “Personal information obtained during the civil petition process must be legally protected, and providing it to a third party without the petitioner’s consent is a clear violation of rights.” It also added, “The National Petition Portal clearly distinguishes between disclosure of the petition and disclosure of personal information.”

This incident serves as a reminder that the obligation of public institutions to manage personal information is not merely an internal standard but a matter of constitutional rights. Society Without Academic Cliques pointed out, “This is not a simple mistake but a fundamental violation of rights,” and urged, “The Office of Education must implement effective training and improve internal systems in accordance with the NHRCK’s recommendations.”