Korean society has traditionally been biased against physically-challenged people.
The deep-rooted prejudice, which seems to originate from life in a homogenous agrarian community, has somewhat diminished in the modern era but still remains as a psychological obstacle to Koreans building a truly advanced nation.
It was partly against this background that a law was enacted more than two decades ago to encourage public institutions and private companies to employ more physically-handicapped persons.
Under the law that took effect in 1991, all state and regional public organizations and private firms with more than 100 employees are obliged to fill a certain proportion of their jobs with disabled individuals.
Figures recently released by the Employment and Labor Ministry, however, showed the country still had a long way to go before becoming a more equitable place for the disabled.
As of the end of last year, about 35 percent of public institutions failed to meet the requirement that at least 3 percent of their jobs be occupied by physically-challenged persons.
Among them is the National Assembly that passed the law and all 16 regional educational offices which were supposed to set examples for young students by giving disabled people opportunities.
Separate statistics from the ministry also revealed many private firms did not meet their obligatory rate of 2.3 percent for disabled hiring.
Larger companies turned out to be in more disregard of the requirement, with three out of four subsidiaries of the 30 largest conglomerates failing to stick to it.
Efforts should be strengthened to provide handicapped people with more job opportunities, which would be the best way to support the most underprivileged group in society.
About 2.5 million people, around 5 percent of the entire population, are now registered as physically handicapped, with experts estimating the actual number will go higher as many others remain unregistered.
A study showed the employment rate of the disabled stood at 36 percent in May 2010, far below the national rate at 60 percent. Most of the disabled employees engaged in simple manual work.
Under the current system, private companies are subject to small fines for failing to meet the requirement while public institutions face no practical punitive measures.
More stern and substantive measures including disadvantages in personnel management should be applied to prod public organizations to be more active in employing more disabled persons.
Fines on private companies need to be increased drastically so that they could no longer get around the regulations by paying the fines.
What may be fundamentally needed are changes in perceptions and attitudes among officials at both public and private organizations.
Heads of public institutions should recognize they are responsible for helping promote the happiness and self-esteem of physically-handicapped people.
Private companies should realize it would enhance their image and help them fulfill their social responsibilities if they offered more jobs to disabled persons. It may be a useful step in that direction to set up subcontract workplaces suitable for disabled work instead of directly hiring them.
