Jinju City Forms Dedicated Response Team for Rapid Handling of Malicious Complaints

Institutional Legal Response and Medical Expense Support for Protecting Affected Public Officials

Jinju City in Gyeongnam will form and operate a ‘Malicious Civil Complaint Response Team’ starting from the 10th to protect public officials from illegal and unfair acts such as verbal abuse and assault by civil petitioners.

The Malicious Civil Complaint Response Team is composed of 18 members divided into four units: the General Unit led by the Deputy Mayor, Investigation Unit 1, Investigation Unit 2, and Legal Response Unit. The team supports all procedures from initial response to malicious civil complaint damage to legal action.

A view of Jinju City Hall.

When a malicious civil complaint occurs, the team will separate the affected public officials from the petitioners and provide independent rest time, preparing active countermeasures. The investigation units will investigate according to the special complaint occurrence report to ensure the complaint is resolved.

Additionally, based on the investigation results, the Legal Response Unit will provide legal consultations and support institutional legal actions such as filing complaints, accusations, or claims for damages to protect the affected public officials.

Mayor Cho Gyu-il stated, "We will actively support from the stage of receiving reports of malicious civil complaint damage to protect public officials from verbal abuse and assault by petitioners, creating an environment where public officials can work with peace of mind."

Jinju City has installed emergency bells, CCTV, and telephone recording systems in 30 civil petition offices across the city’s towns, townships, and neighborhoods to protect public officials in case of illegal acts by petitioners. They also provided 50 transparent shields, wearable cameras, and 128 voice recorders.

Furthermore, the city enacted an ordinance to protect the rights and interests of civil petition public officials, supporting psychological counseling, medical expense assistance, provision of rest time, and education and training for prevention and healing of damages.

Meanwhile, on April 16, Jinju City established a cooperative system with the Jinju Police Station through a business agreement to enable organic and immediate responses to malicious civil complaints.