ACRC to strengthen relief of citizens’ rights and interests by leading administrative service execution and improving illegal and passive administrative actions

May 21, 2019

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

For the past 2 years, the ACRC has focused on improving illegal and passive administrative actions taken by public organizations at various levels, mediating a total 132 cases of large scale collective complaints, which resulted in resolving long-pending grievances of fifty two thousand local residents. Through its On-site Outreach Program, the ACRC also resolved twenty two hundred cases on-site.

In addition, adoption of court-appointed counsel and mediation system in administrative appeals also contributed to strengthening citizens’ rights and interests. Court-appointed counsel is to support the economically vulnerable in filing administrative appeals, while the mediation system is to allow the Administrative Appeals Commissions to actively intervene in mediation to resolve administrative appeals cases.

In the second half of this year, the ACRC plans to enact ‘Collective Complaint Medication Act” which will introduce mediation system conducted by outside experts and allow public organizations to apply for collective complaint mediation to the ACRC.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong), in celebration of the second year of the Moon Jai-in administration, assessed the complaints and administrative appeals cases it has handled so far and reviewed where it should head from now.

The ACRC responded more actively to collective (multiple stakeholders) complaints with entangled interests of multiple organizations and a big social ripple effect, resulting in mediating 132 cases out of the 414 cases filed for the past two years and resolved long pending complaints of fifty two thousand local residents.

As for a case resolved, since Saemangeum reclamation project in 1991, local residents of Biando island, Gunsan city had to commute by fishing boats, without proper marine transportation, and suffered the inconvenience and exposed to a risk of ferry accidents.

The ACRC consulted with Jeollabuk-do, Gunsan Maritime Police Station, Gunsan-si, and Korea Rural Community Corporation, and reached a mediation agreement to take necessary measures including issuing a ferry service license to operate ferry service between Biando to power marina, and setting up facilities required for ferry service.

In another resolved case, the ACRC carried out a fact-finding survey on fifteen hundred nation-wide complaints regarding livestock barn stench after receiving residents’ appeal against damages caused by nearby livestock barn stench in Dongducheon and Pocheon cities.

Based on the result of the fact-finding survey, the ACRC issued a recommendation to local governments of seventeen metropolitan cities and provinces to close or transfer businesses (69 places), improve facilities (198 places), or provide administrative guidance including the use of deodorizer (460 places).

The ACRC operated region-specific and customized On-site Outreach Programs for rural areas, urban areas with frequent complaints, traditional market places, and rented public housing complexes to pro-actively identify and resolve complaints hidden in the every corner of the nation.

With the assistance of Korea National Council on Social Welfare and Korea Legal Aid Corporation, the ACRC provided a counseling service on administrative complaints and other daily inconveniences. A total of forty eight hundred on-site visits were made, and among the forty eight hundred counseling cases provided, twenty two hundred cases were resolved on-site.

In addition, the ACRC introduced court-appointed counsel system last November through which the Central Administrative Appeals Commission appoints a counsel who will provide legal aid for the economically vulnerable including basic livelihood subsidy beneficiaries, single-parent families, and North Korean defectors.

In May last year, the mediation system was also introduced and has been operated for the smooth resolution of conflicts. As for the cases that could be resolved through a settlement between an appellant and administrative agency, the Central Administrative Appeals Commission will be able to actively intervene and conduct mediation.

The ACRC will continue to carry out on-site mediation, corrective recommendation, planned investigation and other measures to actively identify regional collective complaints which are difficult to be resolved or remain untended for a long time.

Specifically, the ACRC is planning to enact Collective Complaint Medication Act which introduces complaint medication system with the participation of outside experts and through which a public organization can apply to the ACRC for mediation of a collective complaint which the organization is not able to resolve.

Furthermore, the ACRC will actively promote administrative appeal court-appointed counsel and mediation system and support the systems through holding policy briefings and investigator training sessions so that other metropolitan and provincial administrative appeals commissions can utilize them.

Chairperson Pak said that the ACRC will effectively implement the tasks designed to strengthen the relief of public’s rights and interests, leading by example in executing active administrative services and improving the quality of life of the public.