The National Human Rights Commission of South Korea announced last Friday that discriminatory and disparaging definitions of homosexuality would be removed from Korean dictionaries.

The move is a result of a petition by homosexual rights organisations, asking for dictionaries to define homosexuality and related terms using non-discriminatory language.

The Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Federation and gay university clubs in March petitioned the National Academy of the Korean Language, the publisher of the standard Korean dictionary, along with nine other publishers, saying that they all used disparaging definitions for homosexuals.

According to a probe conducted by the commission, most Korean dictionaries as well as English-Korean dictionaries published in Korea described homosexuality as a "sexual perversion" or used similarly disparaging terms.

After receiving the petition, the commission arranged a meeting with the rights groups and the publishers.

Five publishers recently told the commission that they would amend the definitions when they publish revised editions while the remaining four publishers said they would consult language institutes and take necessary measures. The National Academy of the Korean Language also said that they would take into account the petitioners' opinions.