Increasing the Number of Consultations Starting in July
On the 17th, Pyeongtaek City in Gyeonggi Province announced that it will newly reorganize the 'Free Legal Consultation (Village Lawyer)' system operated by the city starting in July.
Pyeongtaek City's free legal consultation has been implemented in a mixed form of the 'Free Legal Consultation Office' conducted since 2013 and the 'Village Lawyer' program, established in 2016 through an agreement with the Ministry of Justice, where lawyers are assigned to one eup or myeon each and visit their assigned areas directly to provide legal consultations.
The city explained that this system reorganization aims to address the issues of significant regional disparities in village lawyer legal consultations and prolonged gaps caused by delays in appointing new lawyers after the resignation of existing ones.
Accordingly, the newly reorganized free legal consultation has designated consultation locations by region considering consultation performance and accessibility: ▲Pyeongtaek City Hall ▲Songtan Branch Office ▲Anjung Branch Office ▲Paengseong-eup Administrative Welfare Center ▲Hyeondeok-myeon Administrative Welfare Center. Three village lawyers are assigned to each region to provide rotating consultations. However, Paengseong-eup and Hyeondeok-myeon Administrative Welfare Centers each have one village lawyer assigned for legal consultations.
The legal consultations, which were held once a month, will also be expanded. Pyeongtaek City Hall, Songtan Branch Office, and Anjung Branch Office will increase consultations to twice a month on the second and fourth Mondays. Consultation hours differ: Pyeongtaek City Hall and Anjung Branch Office operate from 3 PM to 5 PM, while Songtan Branch Office operates from 1 PM to 3 PM. Paengseong-eup and Hyeondeok-myeon Administrative Welfare Centers will operate once a month on the second Monday from 3 PM to 5 PM.
The consultation application, which was on a first-come, first-served basis, will be changed to a reservation system. Applications for consultation can be made by phone, through the Pyeongtaek City website, or by visiting in person. Consultations are conducted on a one-on-one basis, with 20 minutes allocated per person.
Jung Jang-seon, Mayor of Pyeongtaek City, said, "I hope that free legal consultations will help protect citizens' rights from various legal issues arising in daily life," and added, "We will continue to strengthen legal administrative services closely connected to daily life."
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