The National Human Rights Commission has assessed that excluding foreign residents from receiving emergency coronavirus relief funds infringes on equal rights. 

The commission said Thursday that treating foreigners who are registered as residents differently in policies on COVID-19 relief funds is a form a discrimination without reasonable cause. 

The commission then urged the Seoul mayor and the governor of Gyeonggi Province to improve their policies on such payouts so that foreign residents are included. 

The call came as Seoul and Gyeonggi excluded foreign residents from receiving relief funds, citing difficulty in accurately determining the personal details of such residents, including their income levels. 

The Seoul Metropolitan Government had said although it decided not to provide relief payouts to foreign residents, it was providing aid to them in other ways, including providing emergency welfare supplies. 

Gyeonggi Province, for its part, said it revised related regulations last month to provide relief funds to foreigners who are married to South Koreans.