Names of All Ministry of Health and Welfare Employees
Removed from Website to Protect Civil Servants
The Ministry of Health and Welfare has removed the names of all its employees, including the minister and vice minister, from its official website. The ministry stated that this measure was taken to protect civil servants from malicious civil complaints.
According to the ministry on April 28, until recently, the organizational chart on its website displayed each employee’s name along with their department, position, responsibilities, and phone number. However, all staff names have now been removed.
The ministry explained that this decision was made as a follow-up measure to the government's "Measures to Prevent Malicious Civil Complaints and Strengthen Protection for Civil Servants Handling Complaints," which was announced last year.
Previously, in March last year, a civil servant in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, took his own life after being subjected to a series of complaint calls and malicious online comments following road repair work. In response, the government announced in May of the same year a set of measures, including the introduction of systems to block malicious complaints by phone, internet, and in-person visits, depending on the complaint submission channel.
Among these measures was a recommendation that "since the publication of personal information (such as names) of civil servants on administrative agency websites can lead to privacy infringements and online harassment, each agency should adjust the level of disclosure according to its circumstances." Although there was no legal obligation to disclose civil servants’ names on websites, there had been guidelines encouraging disclosure for administrative convenience.
The ministry explained that, after nearly a year of internal discussions regarding this recommendation, it decided to remove the names of all civil servants, including the minister and vice minister, from the website. It was also reported that the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s labor union had continuously requested the removal of staff names from the website.
A ministry official stated, "Due to the nature of our departments, there have always been many complaints, and there were previous requests to remove names from departmental websites. However, this was not something the ministry could decide on its own. After the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Personnel Management introduced government-wide measures, we reflected these in our decision."
Some observers believe that ongoing conflicts between the government and medical associations since last year, as well as opposition and complaints from medical groups and parents of medical students during the process of promoting healthcare reform policies, may also have influenced this decision.
Meanwhile, among related agencies, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency also withholds the names of its staff. In contrast, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety continues to disclose its staff list, contact information, and responsibilities. The National Health Insurance Service, a public institution under the Ministry of Health and Welfare, publishes the names of directors and department heads but withholds the names of team leaders and lower-level staff. The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service only discloses the surnames of its employees.
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