Ministry of the Interior and Safety's Safety Report Center Received 4.94 Million Cases Last Year, 2.6 Times Increase YoY... 80% of Risk Factors Improved

Illegal Parking Reports Account for 57%, the Highest Proportion

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, last year, approximately 4.94 million safety reports were received through the Safety Report Center, and about 3.97 million risk factors were improved, demonstrating that the Safety Report Center is contributing to the prevention of safety accidents and securing social safety.

On the 14th, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety reported that the number of reports received last year (4.94 million) increased 2.6 times compared to the previous year, with a maximum of 17,548 reports in a single day and an average of 15,537 reports per day. As awareness of the Safety Report Center has increased, various risk factors such as COVID-19 and fine dust have been reflected, and the number of reports to the Safety Report Center has steadily increased.

Analyzing the reports received by the Safety Report Center, illegal parking reports accounted for 2.85 million cases (57.6%), safety reports such as road and facility damage accounted for 1.4 million cases (28.3%), daily inconvenience reports 480,000 cases (9.7%), and COVID-19 reports 210,000 cases (4.4%). By region, Gyeonggi-do had the highest number with 1.37 million cases (27.1%), followed by Seoul with 590,000 cases (12.0%) and Incheon with 370,000 cases (7.5%), with the metropolitan area accounting for 46.6% of all reports. Seasonally, due to increased outdoor activities, September had the most reports with 470,000 cases, and March showed the largest increase compared to the same month last year, with a 4.2-fold increase.

The number of participants in the Safety Report Center also increased significantly from 310,000 in 2020 to 960,000 in 2021 (a 3.1-fold increase). Among all reports, non-member reports accounted for 73%, which is attributed to the Safety Report Center’s feature of allowing anonymous public interest reporting. Looking closely at the reports received by category, a total of 1.4 million safety reports were received, among which reports on infrastructure risks such as road and facility damage and the risk of collapse of aging bridges totaled 340,000 cases, accounting for the highest proportion at 24.7% of all reports.

Due to abnormal weather, reports related to road damage such as road surface grooves consistently occurred at about 4,000 cases per month, and due to COVID-19, as the number of people taking walks increased, 34,941 complaints related to the maintenance of streetlights and security lights on pedestrian paths were reported. Illegal parking reports were the most frequent, with about 2.85 million cases, and public interest increased due to issues such as traffic accidents in child protection zones, showing a 2.6-fold increase compared to 1.09 million cases in 2020. The number of illegal parking reports by time of day was highest at lunchtime (12 PM) and during the evening rush hours from 6 PM to 8 PM.

In the COVID-19 category, 210,000 reports were received, including violations of gathering bans, failure to wear masks, and violations of visitor management, which analysis shows greatly contributed to preventing the spread of infectious diseases through the rapid response of quarantine authorities. Reports of daily inconveniences totaled about 480,000 cases, mainly involving illegal advertisements (47.3%) and daily life inconveniences such as noise, odor, and garbage (46.8%), and reports related to the socially significant ‘urea shortage’ issue (82 cases) were also received and processed.

The average processing time for Safety Report Center cases was shortened from 6.1 days in 2020 to 4 days last year, processing reports 3 days faster than the legal processing period of 7 days (maximum 14 days). The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to continue improving the system so that elderly and disabled people can easily report, strengthen inspections to ensure that received safety reports are properly handled, and strive to make the public feel the reduction of safety risks through the Safety Report Center.

Jung Goo-chang, Director of the Safety Policy Office, urged, “The active participation and small reports from the public can collectively prevent major disasters, so if you discover any risk factors left unattended around your daily life, please report them immediately to the Safety Report Center.”

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