Introduction of Autonomous Police System and Increase in Local Gift Certificate Issuance ... What Administrative Changes Are Coming This Year?

National Subsidies, Customized Guidance on Government24 ... Mobile Public Official ID and Driver's License Too

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] From this year, the autonomous police system responsible for public safety will be introduced nationwide to local governments. More than 300 beneficiary services provided by central government ministries and local governments can be applied for at once through Government24, and government subsidies for flood and storm insurance premiums will be expanded, reducing the burden on citizens affected by floods, typhoons, heavy snow, and other disasters.

According to the "Policies Changing from 2021" introduced by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, starting in April, residents will no longer need to visit community centers or multiple websites. The government will directly verify eligibility information through administrative information sharing and provide customized benefits such as national subsidies that individuals can receive.

Also, under the "Electronic Signature Act," various private electronic signatures will be available for identity verification alongside the existing public certificates on public websites such as year-end tax settlement simplification, Government24, and the National Complaints Center.

Plastic official ID cards and driver’s licenses, which were cumbersome to carry and prone to forgery and theft, can now be conveniently issued as mobile IDs and used both online and offline. Mobile licenses will enable convenient identity verification in various fields, from online non-face-to-face financial transactions to offline civil service applications.

Autonomous police responsible for public safety will be introduced to local governments nationwide. While maintaining the current police organizational system, responsibility and command authority for autonomous police affairs will be delegated to local governments to ensure democratic and decentralized policing administration. Additionally, a city/provincial autonomous police committee will be established under the mayor or governor to direct and supervise autonomous police affairs.

In line with the post-COVID-19 era, a "one-stop online resident direct participation system" will be established, allowing residents to request and check results of resident-initiated ordinances, recalls, and referendums online without visiting government offices in person.

To revitalize local consumption and support small business owners, local love gift certificates worth a total of 15 trillion won will be issued. This is an increase of 5.4 trillion won compared to last year. Each of the 231 local governments will set annual sales plans and start selling at a 10% discount from this month. To recover the depressed local economy and provide frontline life quarantine services to residents, about 8,600 local quarantine jobs will also be newly created.

To alleviate the tax burden resulting from the realistic adjustment of official real estate prices, the property tax rate on housing for one household with one house priced at 600 million won or less (tax base 360 million won) will be reduced by 0.05 percentage points per tax bracket. As a result, households will reduce their property tax burden by up to 180,000 won. In addition, to support overcoming damages caused by COVID-19, local tax reductions for agriculture, fisheries, and small businesses, as well as deductions and reductions for personal local income tax, will be extended.

For disaster-vulnerable areas with high risk of typhoons, heavy rain, and other natural disasters, the government will support 87% of flood and storm insurance premiums regardless of income level.

Under the enforcement of the "Child Safety Act," workers at 22 types of child-use facilities such as daycare centers, kindergartens, and academies must receive at least four hours of emergency treatment training annually. Additionally, to efficiently rescue lives and extinguish fires in high-rise buildings, seven cities and provinces that previously lacked fire department aerial ladder trucks will sequentially introduce them.

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