Culture of citizen participation and communication in government policies established and complaint big data to be used to reduce inconveniences for citizens

- In 2018, e-People received 4.75 complaints, and Government Call 110 provided counseling on 325 complaints

- In 2018, People’s Idea Box got 160,000 participants, three times larger than in 2017.

- In the second half of 2019, e-People will be integrated with Complaint Information Analysis System and People’s Idea Box; Next generation e-People using AI technology will be launched in January 2020

May 22, 2019

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

Last year alone, e-People and Government Call 110, policy communication channels for the public, received 475 complaints and counseled 325 complaints, which were up 53% and 11 % respectively from those of last year.

During the same period, People’s Idea Box, online policy discussion and participation tool, got 160,000 participations, three times larger than those of the previous year, indicating that a culture of citizen participation and communication in government policies has been established.

For the past two years, based on such complaint big data, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission discovered 300 cases of inconveniences for citizens and conducted 77 institutional improvements. In the second half of 2019, the commission will integrate e-People with Complaint Information Analysis System and People’s Idea Box, and in January 2020 will build next generation e-People which will use up-to-date big data analysis technologies such as AI.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong), in celebration of the second year of the Moon Jae-in administration which aspired to build “A Government by the People”, assessed major achievements it has made so far and looked to the future direction.

Last year alone, 4.75 million complaints were received through e-People, 3.25 million complaints received counseling via Government Call 110, and around 250,000 people (accumulated number) were participated in surveys and discussions on People’s Idea Box.

※ Complaints on e-People: 2.3 million (’16) → 3.1 million (’17) → 4.75 million (’18)

Counsellings via 110: 2.67 million (’17) → 2.93 million (’17) → 3.25 million(’18)

Participants in People’s Idea Box: 28,444 (’16) → 50,969 (’17) → 165,211(’18)

Especially, with the number of complaints received through e-People sharply increasing in numbers every year, the ACRC has made a strong effort to serve as a bridging role between the people and the government so as to translate voices of the people into policy improvement.

As part of such efforts, the ACRC distributed to 400 agencies and citizens Weekly/ Monthly Voices of People which contains complaint trends and examples based on the commission’s regular complaint monitoring, supporting the exercise of complaint big data-oriented policy development.

As a result, among the 329 cases of citizen complaint information collected by February 2019, 196 cases, or 59.6%, were used to improve policies. A case in point is the expanded scope of medical certifications required for exemption from military conion. In addition, 27 complaint forecasts were made on the complaints that are raised or expected to rise sharply during a specific period, for example those related to safety issues during a storm or monsoon season, micro dust, and refusal of waste vinyl collection.

In addition, a planned analysis of complaints was made on 26 important social issues, such as school meals, bicycle safety, and nursing home, and induced countermeasures from related authorities.

Through Complaint Big Data At A Glance (bigdata.epeople.go.kr) which was launched in January 2019, the ACRC is providing citizens with around 2,800 complaint statistics and complaint analysis information on a real time basis, which used to be shared with only public agencies.

Based on such complaint big data analysis, the ACRC, for the past two years, has pushed forward with 77 institutional improvements in the three areas of civil complaints: job, daily life safety, and social safety net. The commission came up with improvement measures on 86 complaints directly related to citizens’ daily life, including unreasonable administrative procedure, and then issued recommendations thereon to related authorities.

Thanks to ACRC’s such institutional improvement efforts, starting from this year, retired employees could apply for income tax reduction to a tax office themselves, which would resolve grievances of those who was not able to get income tax reduction because their employer failed to apply for their income tax reduction. In addition, multi-child families can get a 30~50% discount on parking fees when using Super Rapid Train (SRT) or Incheon International Airport.

There are also other institutional improvement efforts going on by related authorities at the ACRC’s recommendation. For example, a fire extinguisher should be installed in a vehicle for five passengers or less, which is stronger safety requirements compared to the existing one subject to a vehicle for seven passengers or less. Payment requirements for mutual benefit fund for retirement will be eased for day laborers in the case of their sudden death or injuries.

With an aim to give citizens a convenient use of e-People and to enhance accuracy of complaint big data analysis results, the ACRC in the second half of this year will work to integrate e-People with Complaints Information Analysis System and People’s Idea Box and build next generation e-People using up-to-date big data analysis technologies such as AI and will launch the next-generation e-People in January 2020.

In addition, by analyzing complaint big data and collecting public opinions, the ACRC will continue to improve laws and regulations in areas where citizens suffer complaints, such as complicated administrative procedures, information non-disclosure practices, and inconvenient use of administrative services.

ACRC Chairperson Pak Un Jong said, “I expect that the next generation e-People to be launched in January 2020 will enhance citizen participation in government policies and usage of complaint big data. The ACRC will continue to make efforts to ensure that voices of the people could be fully reflected in government policies.”