{"id":594,"date":"2026-02-10T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/?p=594"},"modified":"2026-05-05T00:05:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T23:05:04","slug":"ncrc-labor-commission-anti-corruption-civil-rights-commission-complaint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/?p=594","title":{"rendered":"NCRC Labor Commission +                 Anti-Corruption &amp; Civil Rights Commission Complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">What Happened<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The NCRC\u2019s own archival specialist (\u201cAS\u201d) filed a complaint at the Labor Commission for <strong>workplace harassment<\/strong>.(January 26th, 2026)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Anti-Corruption &amp; Civil Rights Commission started their investigation into the NCRC for allegations of <strong>conflict of interest and research ethics violations<\/strong>. (February 3rd, 2026)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-media-text is-stacked-on-mobile has-background-color has-foreground-background-color has-text-color has-background has-link-color wp-elements-30163d0ece436893b8b1c7a5b56e8f66\" style=\"border-style:none;border-width:0px;border-top-left-radius:100px;border-top-right-radius:100px;border-bottom-left-radius:100px;border-bottom-right-radius:100px\"><figure class=\"wp-block-media-text__media\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"850\" height=\"854\" src=\"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Archives.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-651 size-full\" srcset=\"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Archives.png 850w, https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Archives-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Archives-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/National-Archives-768x772.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" \/><\/figure><div class=\"wp-block-media-text__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On October 13th, 2025, the NCRC announced that they had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the National Archives of Korea.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In order for adoption files (currently held at the temporary facility in Goyang) to be transferred to the Seongnam Branch of the National Archives, they must be disinfected.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Two disinfection options being considered are <strong>ethylene oxide<\/strong> and <strong>gamma rays<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On January 26th, 2026, The <strong>NCRC\u2019s own archival specialist (\u201cAS\u201d)<\/strong> filed a complaint at the Labor Commission for workplace harassment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An order was given to use ethylene oxide gas to disinfect the files, despite warnings by <strong>\u201cAS.\u201d<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ethylene oxide can damage film photos and thermal paper.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>\u201cAS\u201d <\/strong>was subsequently side-lined from internal meetings and team members were directed to file a complaint case against them for <strong>\u201cAS\u2019s\u201d <\/strong>protest.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>An external consultant <strong>(\u201cEC\u201d)<\/strong> was head of a research project investigating the use of gamma rays (November 2025).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>\u201cAS\u201d<\/strong> said, \u201cThe authorities must clearly investigate whether the project was pushed through recklessly despite the anticipated risk of permanent damage to nationally important records.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>On February 3rd, 2026, the Anti-Corruption &amp; Civil Rights Commission started an investigation into the NCRC for allegations of conflict of interest and research ethics violations filed by <strong>\u201cAS.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">NCRC&#8217;S RESPONSE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>On February 3rd, 2026, Chung Ick-Joong (Head of the NCRC) held his New Year\u2019s Press Conference.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There was no mention of plans for a permanent archive or on the complete integration of all adoption records (orphanages, agencies, hospitals, etc.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chung Ick-Joong emphasized claims that disinfection will be done safely and that they are in the midst of expert consultation but that no final decision had been made.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">PRESS COVERAGE<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/n.news.naver.com\/article\/018\/0006207158\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/n.news.naver.com\/article\/018\/0006207158\">[E-Daily] \u201cAdoption Records Are Being Tampered With\u201d: Bullying Began After a Whistleblower Report\u2026 Complaint Filed with the Labor Office<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;At the press conference that day, Kim Eun-jin, a lawyer at the Women\u2019s Labor and Legal Support Center, explained, &#8216;Adoption records are crucial original documents that allow adoptees to trace their roots, yet the expert who sought to protect them was instead isolated by the organization,&#8217; adding, &#8216;This is a case where a public institution, far from protecting a whistleblower, shifted the blame onto them.'&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What Happened NCRC&#8217;S RESPONSE PRESS COVERAGE<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[48],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activity-updates","tag-in-progress"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=594"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1045,"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/594\/revisions\/1045"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earsonncrc.nl\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}