Gwangju City Establishes 'Administrative Adjudication Team'... Strengthening Citizen Rights Protection

Gwangju City Hall

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Park Seon-gang] Gwangju Metropolitan City announced on the 1st that it will strengthen the function of protecting citizens' rights by separating the administrative appeal work from the existing Legal Affairs Officer's Litigation Team and establishing a new Administrative Appeal Team, and will begin full-scale operations.

Earlier, in the organizational restructuring effective January 1, Gwangju established the Legal Affairs Officer's Administrative Appeal Team and converted the Legal Affairs Officer position, which had been held by a general civil servant (Grade 4 Secretary), into an open position. On the 25th, Attorney Jeon Se-jeong was appointed as the new Legal Affairs Officer.

With this measure, it is expected that the legal support function will be strengthened, thereby enhancing the function of protecting citizens' rights through administrative appeals.

In particular, reflecting the social conditions emphasizing livelihood stabilization measures such as revitalizing the local economy after one year since the domestic COVID-19 outbreak, Gwangju will review discretionary acts of administrative agencies from the perspective of citizens' rights, especially for claims where the rights or interests of vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities and small business owners have been infringed.

Additionally, to strengthen support for administrative appeals for socially disadvantaged groups, the city will enhance procedures for protecting citizens' rights by actively utilizing ▲ the public defender system and mediation system ▲ substantive review of disability-related cases ▲ strengthening on-site visits to improve agenda review quality ▲ expanding oral hearings to increase opportunities for explanation ▲ actively reviewing acceptance of appeal claims.

Among these, the public defender system is a program that provides free appointment of public defenders for claimants who have difficulty appointing representatives due to economic reasons. Since December 2018, five attorneys have been commissioned to operate this system.

The support targets include recipients of the National Basic Livelihood Security, single-parent family support recipients, basic pension recipients, disability pension recipients, and North Korean defectors.

Furthermore, to address the issue of lacking medical specialties corresponding to disability types and to enhance expertise, in December 2018, eight members with medical licenses were first appointed, and last year, six more were added, making a total of 14 medical committee members who secure substantive review of disability assessment appeal cases.

In addition, while on-site visits are currently conducted only for some administrative appeal cases, the city plans to expand on-site visits to improve the quality of agenda review. In cases where the issues are complex and the nature of the matter requires active protection of the claimant's rights, oral hearings will be expanded. These efforts aim to actively protect citizens' rights from unlawful or unfair administrative dispositions.

Jeon Se-jeong, the city’s Legal Affairs Officer, stated, “The administrative appeal system is an efficient means of protecting rights that is faster, simpler, and cost-free compared to litigation procedures, allowing citizens to seek redress when their rights are violated.” He added, “We will protect socially disadvantaged groups and citizens' rights by strengthening support for administrative appeals.”

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