President Lee Jae-myung on the 2nd proposed creating a special allowance for civil servants who handle and resolve public complaints.
Speaking at a forum on public complaint innovation at the Government Complex Sejong Convention Center, Lee said resentment builds and lives are destroyed as people repeatedly press their grievances without resolution. "The world is not heaven, but we must not drive these people into hell," he said.
"Many actually die from the stress of pent-up anger. When a complaint goes unresolved, they are driven to the brink," he said. "We must make sure their sense of injustice is minimized so they can return to their daily lives."
"Our administration is called a government of popular sovereignty, and those people are the owners of this country — each one of them is a precious universe," he said. "They are as precious as my own life." He called for officials to actively listen to complaints and work to resolve them.
Lee also cited a complaint policy from his tenure as mayor of Seongnam and suggested applying it in the field. "I once tried a policy of identifying complaints in advance," he said. "The instruction was to bring in as many as possible, even if they could not be resolved, and those who performed well received extra points in their performance evaluations." He added that the approach ultimately led officials to hear far more from residents.
"I think we need to increase the staff dedicated to handling complaints, and we should hand out more commendations," he said. "If necessary, why not create a complaint resolution allowance?"
Addressing the civil servants who handle complaints, Lee said the work requires a great deal of care and is genuinely difficult. "We must accommodate and compensate them for that hardship," he said, adding, "You are the doctors treating the pain of the Republic of Korea."
About 500 officials from central ministries, local governments and education offices who handle complaints and disputes attended the forum, sharing cases in which they resolved unusual, repeated or group complaints, as well as instances where a complaint prompted changes to administrative systems.
