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Investigations and Remedies for Discrimination on the Ground of Age [2008] KRNHRC 10 (1 January 2008)

Discrimination based on age refers to acts of favorably treating, excluding,
differentiating, or unfavorably treating a person or a group of people in many areas
including employment, on the basis of age, without reasonable causes. Age means relative
age limits such as "minors" and "the elderly" as well as statements on the specific age
scope such as "32 years old or less", "24 to 35 years old", "in the 20s," and "those to be
graduated this year". The Act on the Prevention of Discrimination on the Basis of Age in
Employment and the Promotion of Employment of the Elderly was enacted in March 2008
and took effect in March 2009. The Act prohibits indirect discrimination based on age that
leads to unfavorable outcomes for people in a specific age group.
Limitation on the age of applicants for the 7th- and 9th-grade officials of the
National Intelligence Service

Jung and Park filed a complaint that the National Intelligence Service (NIS)
discriminated against them based on age by limiting the applicants' age to 26 and 24 in the
examination to recruit 7th- and 9th-grade officials, respectively.
The respondent claimed that unlike other administrative organizations, it had to limit the
age of applicants because it nurtured experts by providing its new recruits with training
programs for up to one year and a chance to get experience in the field, and had a special
organizational structure with a chain of command and hierarchy.

However, the Commission found that the respondent could not guarantee that 9th and
7th-grade officials would work for at least 22 years and 36 years, respectively, considering
the duration of employment of NIS officials and the by-grade retirement system of the
NIS. In addition, there was no reason to believe that those who were more than 24 and 26
years old required far more time and training resources than those who were less than 24
and 26 years old. The Commission acknowledged that the NIS, by nature, had a strict
hierarchical structure than other government organizations. However, it concluded that the
strict organizational structure and a chain of command were not essential to the
fundamental duties of the NIS and that seniority based on age was not needed to maintain
the hierarchy. The Commission recommended that the Director of the NIS remove the age
limit of 24 years and 26 years in the recruitment of 7th and 9th-grade officials.