Bucheon City Rated 'Best' in Grievance Handling Evaluation... Success in Activating Citizen Ombudsman

Bucheon City Hall

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyesook] Bucheon City in Gyeonggi Province received the highest grade, "A" grade, in the "2019 Grievance Handling Performance Evaluation" conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission.

According to the city on the 16th, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission commissioned the Korea Management Association Consulting to conduct a written expert review and on-site verification investigation on four indicators related to grievance complaints, including efforts to promote proactive administration and grievance complaint satisfaction, targeting a total of 304 institutions.

Bucheon City scored 86.68 points, which is 27.55 points higher than the average score of other local governments in the same evaluation group, showing that the level of grievance complaint handling and management is very excellent, achieving the highest grade for two consecutive years following 2018.

In particular, Bucheon City introduced the "Citizen Ombudsman" system in 1997, the first nationwide, to respond to illegal and unfair administrative acts, which became a benchmarking target for other local governments and contributed to the expansion of the ombudsman system.

Starting this year, the city plans to proactively respond to grievance complaints by operating customized on-site consultation desks at traditional markets, apartment-type factories, and Songnae Station Civil Complaint Center.

In addition, the city plans to expand the functions of the Ombudsman Advisory Committee and operate the "Ombudsman Consultation Room," centered on subcommittees, to provide advice on grievance complaints requiring professional and technical solutions and to mediate and arbitrate conflicts between the public and government.

Mayor Jang Deokcheon said, "Citizens' grievances are becoming increasingly complex and diverse," and added, "We will continue to make every effort to resolve grievance complaints quickly and fairly so that we can become an administrative organization trusted by citizens."

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