The country's human rights watchdog has recommended that state agencies start collecting data related to sexual minorities in a bid to better understand their situation and draw up related government policies.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea(NHRCK) on Monday made the recommendation to the ministries of health, interior and gender equality as well as Statistics Korea. It also urged the prime minister to prepare a related guideline. 

The commission said while sexual minorities, including transgender people, experience prejudice-based discrimination and hatred in their daily lives, they are not regarded a population group to be considered during policy making.

According to the watchdog's 2020 study, 65-point-three percent of transgender people surveyed said they had faced discrimination and hate speech for their sexual orientation in the previous 12 months. Over 57 percent said they had been diagnosed with or treated for depression in 2019.

The Commission also urged the statistical agency to remove transsexualism from the list of mental illnesses in the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases.