Seek ACRC's Sinmungo for Better Livelihood of the People

- Announcing major policy task of realizing the “protection of rights and interests and the establishment of a transparent society”

- “On-site protection of rights and interests,” such as a disadvantaged people-specific ombudsman and on-site ombudsman

- “Translate the voice of the people into policies” through connecting with civil complaints big data analysis and institutional improvements

- “Eradicate violations of livelihood of citizens and local corruption,” including by expanding the integrity assessment of local councils and ly investigating pending corruption issues

(February 19, 2024, ACRC)

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC, Chairperson Ryu Chul Whan) will select and implement three policy tasks under the vision of “Protecting rights and interests and establishing a transparent society.”

In addition, in 2024, ACRC plans to take more active measures concerning citizens seeking Sinmungo*, public communication platforms, including “e-People” and “Clean Portal.”

* Sinmungo: a group of public communication platforms operated by ACRC, encompassing “e-People (civil complaints service, policy proposals, People’s Idea Box),” “Online administrative appeals,” and “Clean Portal (reporting corruption and public interest violations)”

1. (Onsite protection of rights and interests) Seeking Sinmungo will ensure that grievances of citizens are addressed.

ACRC operates a “disadvantaged people-specific ombudsman” to swiftly address urgent challenges faced by disadvantaged people. In order to address emergency relief civil complaints regarding housing and welfare, the Commission appoints personnel from each division to address them. In cases where urgent complaints are received, they will be handled as a top priority by the personnel immediately visiting the site or taking emergency measures.

ACRC actively operates an “onsite ombudsman” system, designed to visit isolated regions and meet with disadvantaged people in person to resolve their grievances.

“Onsite Outreach Service” serves as a channel for civil complaints, designed to provide consultations on civil complaints and resolving them on-site by visiting regions where people encounter difficulties in accessing administrative agencies in person. This service will be provided for 100 times or more in 2024.

In order to access the Administrative Appeals Request Form Autofill Service, people can visit the “Online Administrative Appeals” (www.simpan.go.kr) and click on the “EASY Administrative Appeals.”

Moreover, ACRC holds “onsite meetings for company grievances” once a month, inviting small firms and small business owners to listen to their grievances and actively address them.

The Commission will continue to promote the “establishment of a one-stop administrative appeals service” to ensure that citizens who have suffered from illegal or unreasonable administrative dispositions can easily seek relief for their rights through administrative appeals.
 

ACRC also resolves citizens’ inconveniences when they find it difficult to determine which agencies they should file administrative appeals with by promoting the selection and integration of agencies among the 66 Special Administrative Appeals Agencies operated under their respective laws, which need to be incorporated into the Central Administrative Appeals Commission of ACRC.

In addition, it is planned to unify the administrative appeals submission channel and the receipt and handling system of each administrative appeals agency.

2. (Translate the voice of the people into policies) Seeking Sinmungo will lead to the transformation of inconvenient institutions.

ACRC analyzes civil complaints data (13 million cases per year), received through civil complaints systems, such as e-People, and publishes the topics in which people are interested in real-time. The results of the analysis are released and accessible on the website “Big Data on Complaints at a Glance (bigdata.epeople.go.kr).”

The Commission actively provides support by monitoring the voices of the people received through the “Presidential Office’s Public Proposal” in real-time and translating them into policy improvements.

ACRC will actively discover candidate projects that could be translated into policies by monitoring 50,000 public proposals per year. The projects finally selected by the “Public Proposal Evaluation Committee” will be actively implemented in cooperation with competent authorities.

ACRC will also continue to promote legal and institutional improvements related to social issues, such as those in which citizens are interested, revitalizing the public economy, and building a fair society, through the analysis of civil complaints big data.

The Commission will improve operational methods for the national qualification exam system in order to provide fair opportunities to the young generation and actively promote institutional improvements for the management support for small business owners and self-employed workers. Additionally, ACRC plans to improve methods for disclosing legislative information, with the aim of enhancing transparency within local councils.

3. (Eradication of infringement on the livelihood of citizens and local corruption) Seeking Sinmungo will lead to the eradication of corruption cartels

ACRC investigates reports on anti-corruption practices, such as corruption and violations of public interest, in a fair manner and timely responds to corruption issues. In particular, the Commission plans to conduct fact-finding inspections concerning conventional corrupt practices, including private contracts in collusion with local elected officials and unreasonable payments to public officials, and social issues actively.

ACRC, in particular, actively provides support to enhance the integrity capacity within local councils. The commission conducts integrity assessments of 243 local councils to evaluate the integrity level of legislative activities and operation of councils and publicly release the results. Moreover, ACRC expands integrity education for local council members and public servants.

In addition, ACRC will inspect local laws and regulations, such as the by-laws of local governments, in order to fundamentally improve corruption-causing factors.
 

ACRC has inspected 150,000 local laws and regulations for three years, from 2022 to 2024. This year, the Commission focuses on the inspection of regulations related to the operation of local councils and their personnel affairs, accounting, and business.

ACRC also inspects to ensure that there is no financial leakage within contracted agencies responsible for government work closely related to the livelihood of the people.

In particular, the Commission conducts inspections focused on agencies with an annual budget of at least 10 billion won and those in charge of disaster relief and facility safety in order to encourage transparency in the operation of agencies responsible for the life and safety of citizens.

ACRC Chairperson Ryu Chul Whan said, “In circumstances where people’s economic and social difficulties may grow due to the sluggish growth of the global economy, we will directly communicate with citizens on the spot and actively resolve their difficulties. We will be committed to ensuring Korea leaps forward to enter the global top 20 of advanced countries with integrity by fundamentally improving structural factors causing difficulties faced by citizens through institutional improvements and strictly responding to corruption and unfairness.”