'Children's Meal Cards That Cannot Buy Envelopes'... Seeking Such Absurd Regulations

'Sasojiman Bulpeonhan' Absurd Regulation Contest

The government is seeking out 'absurd regulations' that cause inconvenience to the public's daily life and are disconnected from reality.

The Office for Government Policy Coordination announced on the 5th that it will hold the 2nd Absurd Regulation Contest open to all citizens to actively improve absurd regulations. In last year's first contest, achievements were made by identifying and improving minor but inconvenient regulations in daily life, such as unifying the photo size for youth ID cards and allowing the purchase of envelopes when using child meal cards.

Regarding the youth ID card photo size, it was pointed out that unlike passports and resident registration cards, which use a 3.5*4.5 cm size, the youth ID card used a different 3*4 cm size, and this was unified to the same size as other identification cards. Also, since child meal cards could only be used to purchase food items, there was a problem where envelopes, classified as non-food items, could not be purchased even when buying multiple items. This has now been improved to allow purchasing envelopes one by one.

This year’s contest will proceed by receiving public submissions on the current status, inconveniences, and improvement plans regarding 'absurd regulations.' The Office for Government Policy Coordination will verify these submissions and, after discussions with relevant ministries and private experts, will work to reform the 'absurd regulations.' Proposals can be submitted through the Regulatory Information Portal website from today until the 31st of this month. Ten outstanding projects selected through expert review will be awarded certificates signed by the Director of the Office for Government Policy Coordination.

An official from the Office for Government Policy Coordination said, "This contest is meaningful in reforming regulations that cause inconvenience to citizens’ lives through public-private cooperation," and added, "We will carefully review the valuable suggestions from the public and actively improve unreasonable regulations."