“Active Administration: Go to where Complaints Occurred”

- Passive administrative reporting center in e-People receives and handles around 100 complaints on average every day -

- Two active administration best cases were presented at a vice ministerial meeting on November 8. -

November 8, 2019

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

(Case 1) Regular marine transport re-operated in 17 years

Residents of Biando island, located in Buan-gun, North Jeolla province, could not use regular maritime transport for 17 years after the ferry service was halted for the Saemangeum Seawall Construction which started in 1991. Biando residents travelled back and forth between the island and the Garyeok dock, Buan-gun, on small fishing boats, which is illegal. This resulted in two residents losing their lives when a fishing boat was overturned. Efforts to establish regular maritime transport between Biando and Buangun faced a standstill for a long time due to conflicts between the Biando and Buangun over administrative district and fishing issues.

For the safety of the residents and to resolve conflicts, the ACRC conducted onsite visits and listened opinions of the residents of the two regions for months and drew an agreement to provide the ferry service for the Garyeok port.

(Case 2) Fine dust countermeasures taken with citizens’ opinions

Fine dust pollution was a serious social issue last Spring, with Emergency Fine Dust Alarm issued for a week in a row. The ACRC analyzed 14,000 fine dust complaints collected through Complaint Information Analysis System* and indicated problems in the government’s fine dust countermeasures and implication. In response, the government came up with Comprehensive Fine Dust Countermeasures, assigning the ACRC to make institutional improvement on issues affecting people’s everyday life and requiring relevant authorities’ policy revision.

* Complaint Information Analysis System collects and analyses compliant big data on e-People and local governments’ online complaint receiving channel (website, Saeol Administration Electronic Complaints System)

As a result, institutional improvement measures to reduce fine dust air pollution were set up by joint government efforts. Among them are: strengthening fine dust standards for childcare centers; stronger assistance for environmentally friendly car buyers; and restricting old and weak workers’ outdoor labor in public project.

At a vice ministerial meeting held on November 10, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Pak Un Jong) presented active administration best cases, in which the ACRC resolved complaints through actively mediating complaints onsite based on trust earned from complainants and used complaint big data analysis to improve laws and regulations.

Efforts to spread active administration was also introduced at the vice ministerial meeting. Meanwhile, in May, the ACRC distributed to all public agencies Active Administration Casebook containing cases of complaints resolved through active administration and at request delivered active administration education introducing such cases. The ACRC also pushes institutional improvement to fundamentally remove citizen inconveniences caused by unreasonable laws and regulations and wrong practices.

In order to remove passive administrative practice still remaining in the public sector, the ACRC created passive administration reporting section in e-People, government online communication channel with the public. Every day about 100 of such reports are filed and handled.

In addition, to raise an alarm against passive administrative practice for public organizations, the ACRC decided to produce the Integrity Assessment and Complaints Handling Service Assessment scores by deducing administrative administration practices and reflecting efforts to remove passive administration practices.

Lee Geonlee, Secretary General and Vice Chairperson of the ACRC said at the vice ministerial meeting, “ACRC’s functions and activities of improving rights and interests of the people in themselves can be seen as active administration.” He added, “The ACRC will continue to fulfill its mission to ensure that its achievements can be felt by citizens.”