South Korea’s human right commissioner: “Women Miss Promotions Not Because of the Glass Ceiling but Due to Incompetence”

A whistleblower has revealed that Ahn Chang-ho, Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK), allegedly made problematic remarks to staff, including saying, “Women don’t get promoted not because of the glass ceiling, but because they’re incompetent.” This information comes from reports collected by the NHRCK’s labor union. A civic group has filed a complaint with the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIH) and submitted a petition to the NHRCK regarding Ahn’s behavior.

Moon Jeong-ho, head of the NHRCK branch of the Korean Government Employees’ Union, stated in an interview on MBC Radio’s “Kim Jong-bae’s Focus” on August 4, “As reports of Chair Ahn’s inappropriate conduct increased and controversies arose surrounding the behavior of some human rights commissioners, we began collecting testimonies via the internal bulletin board from July 29.” He added, “So far, there have been about 130 comments, and we estimate around 40 concrete cases have been reported.”

According to the reports, Ahn allegedly said, “Women have traditionally specialized in household chores and caregiving, so they haven’t had the chance to develop their abilities, and that’s why they aren’t promoted.” Additional testimonies claimed he also said, “Women don’t get promoted because of the glass ceiling, but because they are incompetent,” and “The reason women reach high-level positions is because they’re ruthless.”

Moon also noted, “He mentioned a woman in a particular government agency, saying something like, ‘She didn’t get promoted because she was good at her job, but because she was bad at it.’” Moon explained, “It seemed to mean that she wasn’t promoted based on merit, but rather because if she didn’t get promoted, it would block others below her from advancing.”

Many of these remarks reportedly occurred during lunch meetings with female staff or in the context of briefings on specific human rights issues. Moon commented, “Many employees have expressed outrage, asking how someone with such views of women can be serving as the Chair of the Human Rights Commission.”

Previously, a separate report had surfaced in the media alleging that Ahn asked an employee during a work briefing, “You’re not homosexual, right?”—a question interpreted as an attempt to probe the person’s sexual orientation. Ahn later issued a statement claiming, “It was not my intention to verify anyone’s sexual orientation.”

On the same day, a civic coalition called “Joint Action to Correct the National Human Rights Commission” held a press conference in front of the NHRCK office in Jung-gu, Seoul, calling for Ahn’s resignation.

The group stated, “Chair Ahn has engaged in hate speech toward specific religions, questioned sexual orientation, and disparaged particular countries. These actions amount to discriminatory behavior violating the right to equality, as well as infringing on human dignity, conscience, and freedom of religion.” They submitted a petition to the NHRCK demanding accountability.

They also announced plans to file a complaint against Ahn with the CIH for abuse of authority and obstruction of human rights advocacy duties. The complaint reportedly includes allegations that Ahn blocked the deliberation of a petition submitted to the National Assembly regarding hate speech by former Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Lee Ju-ho and Representative Cho Jung-hoon of the People Power Party. It also claims Ahn interfered in the selection process for human rights education instructors, instructing staff to retrieve documents of a successful candidate after a lawyer acquaintance of his failed to pass the selection.