Most facilities used by the public also have no duty to install accessibility features for disabled people, so their accessibility is poor. According to Statistics Korea data (2014), 96% of restaurants, 95% of supermarkets and 99% of hair salons nationwide were small businesses and therefore not subject to the Disability Discrimination Act. In addition, current law limits the duty to guarantee access to information to 'websites,' so there is no adequate provision to remedy discrimination encountered when using mobile apps or smartphones. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities makes 'ensuring access for persons with disabilities to tourism sites' an obligation of state parties, but the Disability Discrimination Act does not reflect this.

Everyday discrimination that disabled people living in the community experience when visiting a theater, attending a performance, or traveling to another region and using lodging or call taxis can also be cited. Most provisions on disabled people's right to enjoy culture are non-mandatory, so reasonable accommodation for disabled people is not provided as a duty, and the law says almost nothing about tourism, so disabled people must bear all the resulting inconvenience themselves.

However loudly people call for laws against disability discrimination, I want to raise the concern that if such laws are not properly designed and enforced, they may remain merely declaratory without real effect. The Disability Discrimination Act was enacted in April 2007 and marks its 10th anniversary this year, and I believe it has achieved visible results as a law that protects disabled people's human rights in many areas and serves as a basis for remedying unreasonable discrimination. Still, large and small problems have been raised: its scope is narrow, it has not kept up with the changing information and communications environment, and it does not fully reflect the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

One of the biggest reasons the law lacks effectiveness is its weak penalty provisions. Violations can be sanctioned by recommendations from the National Human Rights Commission, damages or criminal punishment, but even the commission's recommendations, the remedy victims use most often, do not sufficiently satisfy disabled people. Last year 2,433 complaints related to disabled people, including under the Disability Discrimination Act, were filed, and 1,600 to about 2,600 cases are filed every year. About 23% of these complaints were upheld. Even when a correction recommendation is hard won from the commission, its effect is hard to guarantee.

To add: the Disability Discrimination Act was enacted in April 2007 and took effect in April 2008, so as of 2017 it was the 10th anniversary of its enactment rather than of its entry into force. If a National Human Rights Commission recommendation is not followed, the Minister of Justice can issue a corrective order, and violating it brings an administrative fine of up to 30 million won (Articles 43 and 50). Malicious discrimination is punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won (Article 49). The disability grading system was abolished in July 2019, and an amendment to the Act on Promotion of the Transportation Convenience of Mobility Disadvantaged Persons (Article 14(7)), promulgated in January 2022 and in force since January 19, 2023, in principle requires low-floor buses when route buses other than intercity buses are replaced (seated-type buses from 2027). The paper's statistics are from 2016 to 2017.