If You Use Profanity or Sexual Harassment, Call Will Be Instantly Ended... Now Malicious Complaint Calls Will Be 'Forcibly Terminated'

Government Announces Comprehensive Inter-Governmental Measures to Prevent Malicious Complaints and Protect Civil Servants
Blocking Devices for Malicious Complaints by Complaint Application Methods Such as Phone, Internet, and Visits
From Prevention and Response to Malicious Complaints to Protection of Affected Civil Servants and Improvement of Complaint Service Quality

From now on, civil servants handling civil complaints will be able to forcibly terminate calls if malicious complainants use abusive language, threats, sexual harassment, or other verbal abuse. Until now, civil servants had to listen to complainants' abusive language or irrelevant remarks over the phone, but now a 'recommended time' will be established, allowing calls to be disconnected.

On the 2nd, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced the "Measures to Prevent Malicious Complaints and Strengthen the Protection of Civil Complaint Officers," which defines malicious complaints as illegal acts and obstruction of official duties, aiming to protect public officials from malicious complainants and includes corresponding response measures.

A joint police simulation training for handling malicious complaints is being conducted at the Dobong-gu Office Civil Service Center.

Previously, the government amended the Civil Complaint Handling Act in 2022 to specify the protection obligations of agency heads toward civil complaint officers and the mandatory protective measures each agency must implement. Accordingly, since 2023, administrative agencies have been implementing protective measures such as installing safety devices like CCTV, emergency bells, and safety partitions in complaint offices and deploying safety personnel.

However, situations where complainants threaten the safety of civil complaint officers and complaint offices through illegal acts such as verbal abuse and assault, or cause disruptions to the processing of other complainants by filing complaints without justifiable reasons, have repeatedly occurred. In March, an incident occurred where a civil servant in Gimpo City suffered fatal harm due to online harassment and a large volume of complaint calls following road repair work.

The measures announced by the government on this day include establishing the concept of malicious complaints and response plans by type. First, malicious complaints will be defined as illegal acts and obstruction of official duties by complainants, with the types of malicious complaints subdivided. For example, illegal acts include verbal abuse, defamation, sexual harassment, assault, property damage, and threats, while obstruction of official duties is classified into repetitive type, time-constraining type, and unreasonable demands.

Blocking devices for malicious complaints by complaint application methods such as phone, internet, and in-person visits have also been prepared. Until now, civil complaint officers had to listen to complainants' abusive language or lengthy irrelevant remarks over the phone. However, going forward, calls can be terminated if complainants use verbal abuse, threats, sexual harassment, or other verbal abuse, and each agency will set a recommended call duration; if this recommended time is exceeded due to unreasonable demands, the call can also be terminated.

In cases where a large volume of complaints is submitted in a short time through online complaint channels, intentionally causing significant disruption to work processing, temporary restrictions on system use will be imposed. For in-person visits, a recommended time per session will be set through measures such as advance reservations.

To prevent administrative resource waste caused by malicious complaints, the scope of complaints eligible for closure will also be expanded. Similar to calls, complaints submitted in writing that contain a significant amount of abusive language, threats, or sexual harassment can be closed.

When malicious complaints occur, agencies will actively respond at the institutional level and promote various support measures for recovery and healing, such as counseling for affected civil servants. Each agency must establish an implementation plan for protective measures annually, and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will evaluate this through comprehensive civil service evaluations. Additionally, personnel benefits and protective devices will be provided to civil complaint officers. Civil complaint officers will receive additional points related to promotion as a job characteristic-related bonus item, and an additional complaint allowance will be paid according to the difficulty, volume, and other characteristics of the complaint work handled.

Minister of the Interior and Safety Lee Sang-min stated, "Protecting civil complaint officers from malicious complainants is the government's responsibility, and we have prepared comprehensive measures to fulfill this duty," adding, "Through these comprehensive measures, we ultimately hope that citizens can receive civil complaint services stably and that a culture of respecting civil complaint officers will take root in our society."