Lee: "Civil Complaint Resolution Allowance Worth Considering... Civil Petitions Are a Treasure Trove for National Policy"

Attendance at the Civil Complaint Innovation Case Reporting Session

"Minimizing Chronic Civil Complaints Is One of the Government's Top Challenges"

"Whether It's a Hundred People Beating Clappers or a Single Email, Treat Them the Same"

On October 2, President Lee Jae-myung suggested, "If necessary, how about creating something like a ‘civil petition resolution allowance’?" He called for expanding the workforce and strengthening the compensation and treatment for frontline civil petition officers. He emphasized that repeated and chronic civil petitions should not be seen simply as administrative burdens, but as problems that can disrupt people’s lives. At the same time, on-site civil petitions should become the starting point for policy improvement.

President Lee Jae-myung listens to Song Hyung-geun, Local Facility Chief of Jeonnam Gwangju Integrated Special City, presenting an outstanding case of civil petition resolution at the Civil Petition Innovation Case Report Meeting held in Sejong Special Self-Governing City on October 2, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News Agency

President Lee made these remarks while attending the Civil Petition Innovation Case Report Meeting, "The Voice of the People Changes Korea," held at Sejong Convention Center on October 2. He stated, "Eliminating civil petitions entirely is impossible, but minimizing them is one of our government’s greatest challenges." The event was attended by about 500 people, including Minister of the Interior and Safety Yoon Ho-jung; Jeong Ilyoung, Chairman of the Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission; Kang Hoon-sik, Chief Presidential Secretary; Jeon Sunghwan, Senior Secretary for Communication and Integration; and other officials in charge of civil petitions from central government ministries, local governments, and education offices.

President Lee particularly emphasized that, to resolve long-term, repetitive petitions, it is essential to respect petitioners as "individual citizens," not just as parties opposite the administration. He noted, "There are quite a few chronic petitions for which there are no solutions," adding, "In reality, there are things we cannot do, things we cannot do under the law, or things we should not do." He further pointed out the causes behind prolonged conflicts: "The first is because people haven’t been respected, or they felt ignored." He stressed the importance of "ensuring that people had the opportunity to fully express what they wanted to say."

He also shared experiences from his tenure as mayor of Seongnam. President Lee explained how he opened his office to the public and personally met with groups of petitioners, sometimes for several hours. "After two to three hours, people had said everything they wanted to say, and I saw that, simply by having the opportunity to talk, many issues were resolved," he said. For petitions that could not legally be solved, he would suggest possible solutions through expert consultations and review them again if solutions emerged. Through such processes, he recalled, the number of group petitions greatly decreased within a few months.

President Lee also urged that repetitive petitions should be addressed as issues directly tied to people’s lives. He said, "They end up wasting their entire lives on this. A precious person’s life gets caught up in a cycle of endless repetition, growing resentment, and, ultimately, life itself is destroyed. Should we just leave this unaddressed?" He continued, "These people are the main characters of this country. Each person is their own precious universe. It is our responsibility to look after their lives," he emphasized.

He also called for actively utilizing civil petitions as a channel for developing government policies. President Lee stated, "Their voices and the contents of their petitions contain an enormous number of things we need to address," adding, "That’s why civil petitions are described as a treasure trove of national policy." He continued, "What matters is discovering what the people want and what they expect on the ground, and isn't it wonderful that they bring that information directly to us?"

He introduced a case from his time as Seongnam mayor, where he reflected "civil petition discovery" in personnel evaluations, encouraging government officials to proactively seek out residents’ inconveniences. "If officials discovered many civil petitions, we would promote them," he explained, adding that frontline officials were guided to ask directly if residents needed anything and to examine the on-site situation. "However, I later saw that some would try to split petitions into smaller ones," he remarked, drawing laughter from the audience.

President Lee also pointed out the need to improve the practice where the response of administrative agencies varies depending on the size of collective action taken during the petition handling process. He said, "Treat a crowd of a hundred banging gongs or a single email in the same manner." He explained, "If people inflate numbers and make a lot of noise, they get more respect and their cases are dealt with quickly. Meanwhile, when individuals send an email or letter, they don’t get much respect, so unnecessary group actions keep happening." He further explained that if trust in the petition response process increases, the police force and security personnel needed to handle group petitions could be reduced.

President Lee Jae-myung is delivering a welcome speech at the Civil Petition Innovation Case Report Meeting held in Sejong Special Self-Governing City on October 2, 2026. Photo by Yonhap News

President Lee repeatedly stressed the need to improve the working conditions of civil petition officers. When Minister Yoon explained that the government now uses the term "unusual petition" instead of "malicious petition," President Lee stated, "We have also taken steps to strengthen compensation and recognition for frontline work, but it seems we need to increase the workforce as well." He added, "We should give more commendations, and if necessary, consider establishing something like a civil petition resolution allowance." He continued, "It’s truly difficult to resolve complaints and resentment that have accumulated over years, or even decades. As much as we devote care, we must provide support and compensation for the hardship experienced."

Earlier, President Lee awarded presidential commendations to six public officials who contributed to civil petition innovation. He said, "Serving the people and carrying out the people’s work is our fundamental mission and reason for existence." He emphasized, "The best policy is to concretely and effectively address what each citizen at the grassroots level wants. This is also the way to demonstrate that we are a government of popular sovereignty and a democratic republic."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.