The Basic Society Committee, a presidential advisory body, announced Thursday it will hold a policy idea contest — titled "Everyone's Basic Society! Policy Idea Contest" — to gather public proposals on everyday issues and develop the best ones into actual policy.
The contest is open to any South Korean citizen, individually or in teams of up to five people. Submissions should reflect the characteristics and on-the-ground needs of participants' local communities.
The contest covers six policy areas: income and employment; residential and financial support; transportation and safety; environment, energy and communications; health, medical care and welfare; and education, food, leisure and culture.
A distinctive feature of this contest is a "policy refinement process" built into the evaluation. Under this step, promising public proposals will be developed into concrete, actionable policies through collaboration between the original submitters and experts in each field, raising the likelihood that citizen ideas will make it into actual policy.
Refined proposals will be released as card-format news posts, and an online public vote will be held to incorporate citizen opinion into the selection of final winners.
Final winners will be chosen by combining the results of the public vote with assessments by a panel of experts.
Interested applicants can find submission details on the Basic Society Committee's official website and social media channels. Entries will be accepted from Thursday through Sept. 23 via the contest secretariat's email, postal mail or a Google form.
Kang Nam-hoon, vice chairman of the Basic Society Committee, said the contest represents "a new model of citizen-participatory policymaking, where the public goes beyond being mere consumers of policy to become active co-creators." He added that the committee would "actively support citizens' fresh ideas so they can translate into real policy."
thlee@heraldcorp.com
