This Dec. 2, 2021, file photo shows students receiving school lunch at an elementary school in Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 14 (Korea Bizwire) — The state rights watchdog said providing spicy food to students at a kindergarten falls short of violating human rights.
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea reviewed the said complaint submitted by “The Political Mamas,” a Seoul-based non-profit organization, against which it ruled that it does not amount to a human rights violation.
The civic group submitted the complaint in November of last year, arguing that there was a human rights violation at a local school when it served spicy food to kindergarten and elementary school students, which some of them couldn’t eat because the food was too spicy.
“Spiciness is subjective, and each food comes with a wide range of tastes, so there are limits to set up an objective standard on what is ‘spicy’,” the rights watchdog said as it dismissed the case. “It is impossible to set a standard in which food is too spicy for children.”
The civic group said it would object to the commission’s decision, arguing that it amounted to “violence to provide spicy food to children without any alternative, forcing them to endure the spiciness.”
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
