Human Rights Award of Korea

The Human Rights Award of Korea () is the highest human rights award of the Republic of Korea, bestowed annually by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea. It was established in 2005 for human rights organizations, and started to award individuals from 2007 to recognise the contribution to Korean and international human rights.
The award are presented at annual Human Rights Day Ceremony on 10 December in every year.
Categories.
There are three categories of the award
Recipients.
2006.
In 2006, a total of seventeen organisations and individuals received the Human Rights Award of Korea, including:
2008.
Nominee Lee Jeong-yi of the Busan Human Rights Center, well known for her work with prisoners of conscience, was disqualified from consideration after objections by the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. Conservative groups had accused Lee of being "a pro-North Korea, anti-U.S. activist". An anonymous National Human Rights Commission employee quoted by the "Hankyoreh" objected to the decision and described it as politically motivated.
2009.
In October 2009, forty-five human rights organisations which had been nominated for the Human Rights Award of Korea issued a statement that they would not participate in the selection process for that year due to concerns over the independence and political bias of newly appointed Human Rights Commission head Hyun Byung-chul. The following month saw broader strife in the HRC; sixty-one HRC advisors also threatened to resign in protest, calling Hyun "nothing more than a 'yes man'" for the Lee Myung-bak administration.
2010.
The year 2010 saw further boycotts of the Human Rights Award, including several by student writers who had participated in the essay competition. The Human Rights Commission announced on December 10 that the Incheon League for the Abolition of Discrimination against People with Disabilities (인천장애인차별철폐연대), an organisation which had been selected for the award, would not accept it. A spokesperson for the National League for the Abolition of Discrimination Against People with Disabilities stated that there continued to be concerns over the independence and operation of the Human Rights Committee.