Thorough Response to Illegal Acts Such as Verbal Abuse and Assault
[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] To reduce repeatedly raised complaints, the government has established a three-step processing procedure to review and deliberate on the opinions of complainants. At the same time, it will strengthen the safety of civil service offices to protect civil servants from emergencies such as assault.
The government announced on the 11th at the 5th Social Relations Ministers' Meeting held at the Government Seoul Office that it had deliberated and finalized the "Measures to Resolve Repeated Complaints and Create a Safe Civil Service Environment," which includes these contents.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, cases where the same complaint was repeatedly raised three or more times and closed increased 3.6 times from 6,959 in 2017 to 24,780 in 2019. In particular, complaints that were closed but the complainant did not accept the result and continued to raise complaints, effectively remaining unresolved, also increased 2.4 times from 626 to 1,472 during the same period.
Cases where civil servants were harmed by verbal abuse, assault, sexual harassment, etc., during the complaint handling process also increased by 10.3% to a total of 38,054 cases last year compared to 34,484 cases in 2018.
Accordingly, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety collaborated with related ministries such as the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the National Police Agency, and local governments to systematize the repeated complaint handling procedure and prepare measures to create a safe civil service environment and protect civil servants.
First, the previous practice of closing complaints repeated three or more times with only the approval of the immediate superior without proper deliberation has been subdivided into three steps.
After approval by the immediate superior (Step 1), complaints raised again go through a listening and mediation process (Step 2) by a Civil Complaint Mediation Committee involving external experts from each institution. For complaints that are still not accepted, a third institution, the Repeated Complaint Deliberation Committee, conducts one more review (Step 3) to listen to the public's voice as much as possible.
Along with this, CCTV, emergency bells, and recording phones will be installed in civil service offices within this year, and security personnel such as petition police will be deployed to all institutions by next year. In cases of violations of law and order such as assault or property damage, a rapid response system will be established in cooperation with the police, and a "Guideline for Responding to Violations of Law and Order" applicable to frontline civil service sites will be prepared and disseminated within the first half of this year.
Furthermore, through public-private cooperation campaigns, a social atmosphere that understands and considers the difficulties of civil servants will be fostered, and support for legal dispute response arising from legitimate complaint handling and psychological healing for civil servants will be expanded.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety also plans to prepare and distribute the "Repeated Complaint Response Guidelines" in May and to revise the operating regulations of the Civil Complaint Mediation Committees for each institution in ministries and local governments within the first half of this year.
Minister Jin Young of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said, "We will actively reflect the voices of the people through the three-step deliberation process in complaint handling to resolve repeated complaints," and added, "By creating a safe civil service environment to protect civil servants from illegal acts, we will strive to provide better civil service."
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