A petition has been filed with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) claiming that the plan by the "Constitution-respecting government innovation task force (TF)"—formed by the government to investigate whether civil servants were involved in the Dec. 3 martial law—to collect civil servants' personal mobile phones amounts to a human rights violation.
Lee Jong-bae, a People Power Party member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, held a press conference on the 14th before submitting a petition to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). Lee said, "Forcibly seizing civil servants' mobile phones in effect without a court warrant and conducting forensics (digital device evidence collection) without a legal basis to look into their usage is clearly illegal surveillance," adding, "It is horrific state violence and a violation of human rights unimaginable in a democratic country."
Lee continued, "If extralegal surveillance of civil servants is tolerated, the constitution will become a dead letter and we will become a dictatorship where only the shells of democracy and the rule of law remain," and said, "The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) should promptly launch an investigation and strongly recommend that the Prime Minister's Office halt its unlawful, outrageous investigation of civil servants' mobile phones."
The Prime Minister's Office said it will activate the constitution-respecting government innovation TF starting on the 21st and will discipline public officials who participated in or cooperated with the martial law. It will set up a control TF under the Prime Minister's Office along with TFs at 49 central administrative agencies.
In particular, the Prime Minister's Office said it would encourage civil servants to voluntarily submit their personal mobile phones, but also noted that if they do not cooperate despite suspicions, it is considering referring them for investigation after placing them on standby or relieving them of duty. In government circles, criticism is mounting that this amounts to de facto forced submission.