Presidential Office Selects 10 Feasible Policies from Over 12,000 Public Proposals

Strengthened Punishment for Pet Bite Owners, Unlimited Public Transport Rides for 9,900 Won Among Top 10 Picks

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] The Presidential Office has selected 10 proposals deemed feasible for policy implementation out of more than 12,000 complaints, suggestions, and petitions received from the public.

On the 20th, Kang Seung-gyu, Senior Secretary for Civil Society at the Presidential Office, stated at a briefing held at the Yongsan Presidential Office, "It has been just over a month since we started operating a unified UI platform to receive various complaints, suggestions, and petitions as one public proposal system," and listed the selected proposals.

Kang explained that the 'Public Proposal Review Committee,' composed of 11 members including civilian experts and public officials, chaired by Heo Seong-woo, Secretary for Public Proposals, selected the Top 10 on the 18th based on three criteria: daily life relevance, public empathy, and urgency.

Kang mentioned that the proposals included ▲strengthening penalties for pet owners in dog bite incidents ▲introduction of the 'K-Transportation Pass' allowing unlimited public transportation rides for 9,900 KRW ▲abolition of mandatory closures for large supermarkets ▲differentiated application of minimum wage by industry and occupation ▲hiring of foreign domestic helpers ▲rollover of mobile phone data, among others.

Regarding this, Kang said, "Starting from the 21st of this month, we plan to ask online for about 15 days how people feel about these opinions," adding, "Once the public feedback is collected, we will disclose the results again and consult relevant ministries to see if institutional improvements and proposals can be accepted to promote institutionalization."

Unlike the previous Blue House public petitions, the proposals are not fully disclosed, leading to criticism that the process is closed off and that the committee of 11 members, composed of experts appointed by the Presidential Office and its staff, may select the Top 10 in a biased manner.

A senior official from the Presidential Office responded, "The public petition system had the risk of ideological distortion and biased opinions reflecting one side," and added, "It is appropriate to resolve complaints individually in practice, and we saw no reason to disclose (the proposals, etc.)."

He continued, "Experts selected proposals needing institutional improvement based on daily life relevance and urgency," emphasizing, "We will not conduct quantitative evaluations such as who agreed the most online. We hope people trust the expertise and sincerity."

From the 23rd of last month to the 11th of this month, excellent corporate proposals were also accepted from small business owners, startups, SMEs, and large corporations. The focus was on regulatory reform and economic revitalization, with about 700 proposals received.

The Office of the Secretary for Public Proposals plans to hold a communication event in September with representatives from small businesses, startups, SMEs, large corporations, and regulators to seek solutions. Specific excellent corporate proposals will also be disclosed at the communication event.

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