Cheonan City Removes Civil Servants' Names from Website... "Protection from Malicious Complaints"

Removal of Civil Servant Photos from the Organizational Chart within the Government Building

Cheonan City in Chungnam Province is implementing various support measures to protect public officials from malicious civil complaints.

The city has changed the disclosure status of public officials' names on its website to private in order to prevent damage caused by the leakage of personal information.

This is the first attempt among local governments in Chungnam Province, and earlier in January, the city also removed employee photos from the organizational chart within the government building.

Park Sang-don, Mayor of Cheonan, submitted an opinion on the 'partial disclosure of employee information (name non-disclosure)' at last month's Chungnam Mayors and County Governors Council, and plans to formally propose it as an agenda item representing Chungnam at the upcoming Korea Mayors, County Governors, and District Heads Council next month.

In addition, the city operates the 'Malicious Civil Complaint Victim Employee Protection and Countermeasure Team' to practically apply the 'Cheonan City Ordinance on Eradication of Malicious Civil Complaints and Protection and Support for Public Officials.'

Psychological tests and other support for employees are also being expanded.

Since 2015, the city has provided one-on-one personal counseling, psychological tests, and special lectures for employees who may be exposed to stress caused by malicious civil complaints. Especially from this year, a separate counseling space has been established within the government building to support on-site counseling once a week, and there are plans to hire professional psychological counselors to expand and operate a counseling center in the future.

Mayor Park Sang-don said, “I recently heard about a regrettable incident caused by the leakage of public officials' personal information through the news,” and added, “City employees are individuals who make up society before being public officials, and we will do our best to protect our employees.”