"Citizens Take the Lead Against Health and Welfare Abnormalities"... 'Public Suggestion Platform' Launched

Submissions Accepted via Ministry Website, Mail, and 129 Hotline

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced on April 17 that it will establish and operate the “Public Suggestion Platform for Normalization in Health and Welfare,” aimed at identifying and improving abnormal practices, institutional issues, and entrenched illegal or expedient behaviors that persist throughout health and welfare policies.

The public suggestion platform has been introduced to proactively discover “normalization tasks” for building a country grounded in integrity and sound principles.

Normalization tasks refer to abnormal or unreasonable policies, systems, or projects that citizens and businesses encounter directly in their daily lives. Examples include: ▲cases where expedient practices exploiting exceptions to the system have become commonplace; ▲cases where illegal actors benefited because the system was not properly enforced; ▲systems that have become obsolete or lack rationality; ▲systems that are out of sync with public sentiment or the general sense of justice; and ▲efforts to root out major social ills, such as drug crimes, public sector corruption, fraudulent subsidy claims, and preferential licensing.

To ensure that a wide range of voices are heard, the Ministry will accept public suggestions not only through its official website, but also by mail and via its official social network services (SNS) accounts. Anonymous submissions are also possible, enabling anyone to participate without fear of disadvantage. In addition, for those less familiar with the internet, suggestions can be submitted by calling the Health and Welfare Counseling Center (dial 129, no area code required).

Submitted suggestions will undergo review by internal and external experts, as well as deliberation by the Health and Welfare Normalization Task Force, before a final decision is made on whether to adopt each item as an official task. The Ministry plans to provide detailed, regular updates on the status and major achievements of the selected tasks.

Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong emphasized, “The Public Suggestion Platform for Normalization in Health and Welfare is a key tool for uprooting the remaining abnormalities in our society, based on the voices of our citizens,” adding, “We will prioritize improvements to abnormal systems that directly impact people’s daily lives, taking the lead in building a nation where the people are the true owners.”

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