"Excessive Recommendation Requirements for Community Leader Applicants"... Seoul City Recommends Improvements to District Offices

“Recommendation Requirement in Community Leader Application Process Needs Improvement”
Citizens’ Audit Ombudsman Committee Shares Case with Four Districts

The Seoul Metropolitan Government Citizens’ Audit Ombudsman Committee announced on September 26 that it had recommended improvements to a district office where a grievance had been filed, arguing that the regulation requiring community leader applicants to obtain recommendations from either two neighborhood leaders or ten residents is excessive.

Mr. B, a resident of District A, recently tried to apply for the position of community leader after seeing a recruitment notice. However, under the enforcement rules of the ordinance, he was required to obtain recommendations from at least two neighborhood leaders or ten heads of households in the community. When he inquired at the community center, he was told that the contact information of the neighborhood leaders could not be provided, and even his request to have his message relayed to them was refused.

During the investigation, Mr. B stated, “I asked for a recommendation, but was refused because they had already recommended another applicant for the community leader position. This regulation favors former community leaders and is unfair to new applicants.”

The committee determined that, given the increasing emphasis on personal data protection, excessive recommendation requirements could place an undue burden on new applicants and serve as a disadvantageous barrier to entry compared to former community leaders. It also noted that competition for recommendations could lead to conflicts among residents, and thus recommended that the district revise its ordinance.

Additionally, the city conducted a comprehensive review of the enforcement rules of ordinances across all 25 districts in Seoul. The city notified the four districts that currently maintain recommendation requirements of the committee’s findings and encouraged them to pursue revisions on their own.

Cho Deokhyun, Chairperson of the Seoul Metropolitan Government Citizens’ Audit Ombudsman Committee, stated, “We will actively identify tasks for institutional improvement through grievance investigations to ensure that unreasonable administrative systems do not cause inconvenience or burden to citizens, thereby enhancing citizens’ rights and interests.”

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