South Korea to designate civil servants to handle repeat, abusive complaints

South Korea will designate dedicated civil servants to handle repeat complaints filed without legitimate grounds.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety and the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission announced Thursday that each government agency will appoint a "conflict resolution officer" to protect civil servants handling complaints and to consolidate the response system for abusive petitions.

The conflict resolution officer will oversee tracking of repeat and unusual complaints within the agency, coordinate conflict mediation and response training, and manage support for affected civil servants.

Unusual complaints involving multiple agencies — which are difficult to handle through normal channels — will be transferred directly to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission for centralized management.

When illegal conduct such as verbal abuse, assault, threats or property destruction occurs during the complaint-handling process, agencies will pursue legal action at the institutional level and strengthen legal and psychological support for affected civil servants.

An "AI clean bot" will also be introduced to analyze and detect abusive language, threats, sexual harassment and other disruptive expressions submitted through the online complaint system.

The Interior and Safety Ministry plans to revise its guidelines for handling repeat complaints by next month and hold a conflict resolution officer workshop to share standard manuals and best practices.

"We cannot leave the handling of repeat and unusual complaints solely to the patience of individual civil servants," Interior and Safety Minister Yun Ho-jung said. "We will guarantee legitimate complaints while ensuring agencies respond responsibly to conduct that obstructs normal complaint processing, protecting both civil servants and the public."