16 September,2010 08:17 AM IST | | Agencies
South Korea's human rights watchdog yesterday told two matchmaking agencies to stop height discrimination when signing up men as members.
The National Human Rights Commission ruled in favour of a 39-year-old man who filed complaints against two agencies.
They refused to accept him as a member due to his short height of 158 centimeters (5 feet two inches).
"The commission finds it an unreasonable act of discrimination for matchmaking agencies to reject male applicants because of their short height and urges their corrective action," it said in a statement.
The watchdog said it amounted to a "breach of human dignity" for the agencies to deny applicants on grounds of their physical characteristics.
A spokesman for the commission said, "It is unreasonable for the agencies to reject male applicants only because they are short."
The agencies had refused membership to men shorter than 165 centimeters (5 feet, five inches) on the grounds that brides prefer taller men.
