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Discrimination based on Country of Origin [2006] KRNHRC 3 (1 January 2006)

Discrimination on the basis of country of origin refers to any act of favorable treatment,
exclusion, differentiation or unfavorable treatment of a particular person or a group of
particular persons in various areas of social life, including employment, without
reasonable cause, on the basis of a person's country of origin. Here, "the country of
origin" not only includes the previous nationality--namely, a person's nationality before
he or she becomes a citizen of Korea--but also the current nationality in certain case.

Unfavorable treatment of a person, who has become a Korean citizen through a
marriage or naturalization, on the ground of the specific nationality of the past without
reasonable cause constitutes discrimination based on the country of origin. It is also
discrimination on the basis of country of origin to treat unfavorably a person with
foreign nationality in specific areas of basic rights, compared to Korean nationals or
persons with other foreign nationalities, without reasonable cause.