Gyeonggi Province appointed seven ombudsmen including lawyers and patent agents who will work until 2017 to investigate and resolve civil complaints stemming from illegal or unfair administrative measures of the province, its affiliated organizations, and cities and counties

◇ Governor Nam appointed seven Gyeonggi provincial ombudsmen on January 27 in order to fully implement the provincial ombudsman program. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Jae-hoon

Gyeonggi Province established its ombudsman program to facilitate the unbiased resolution of civil complaints stemming from illegal or unjust administrative measures as well as long-pending civil complaints.

Governor Nam appointed seven ombudsmen for Gyeonggi Province on January 27 in order to fully implement the provincial ombudsman program.

The seven appointees are: Kim Hyun-sook, a policy director at the Korea National Council of Women; So Jae-hyun, a patent agent at Yoon & Yang LLC; Son Gyo-myung, a lawyer at Winner’s Co. Ltd.; Lee Du-yeol, a visiting professor in the Department of Architecture at Kyunghee University; Jang Tae-beom, the vice-president of Kunhwa Engineering & Consulting; Jo Ah-ra, a lawyer at Jo Ah-ra Law Offce; and Hwang Ji-yeon, a former civil complaints ombudsman of Anyang City. They will work with Gyeonggi Province for a two-year period.

The ombudsmen will investigate civil complaints stemming from illegal, unfair or passive measures or illogical administrative systems of the cities and counties authorized to handle provincial affairs as well as provincial and affiliated organizations. Based on their investigations, the ombudsmen will offer corrective recommendations, convey their opinions, and provide mediation, settlement and recommendation services. If any illegal or unfair transgressions are found, they can also request that a relevant organization engage in further investigation.

Any citizen, corporate body or organization experiencing a violation of their rights, loss of profits, or inconvenience due to a measure or system of an administrative agency can ask the Gyeonggi ombudsmen for assistance. Administrative areas without legal issues also can also be dealt with if improvement is required.

Jeon Bon-hee, an audit and inspection official of the province, explained, “The ombudsman program is a supplementary measure of the pre-audit system for the improvement of irrational systems and regulatory practices as well as for the facilitation of the proactive administration of public officials. The appointed ombudsmen will handle civil complaints on the spot and have a regular meeting once a month as well as ad hoc meetings.”

◇ Governor Nam said, “The Gyeonggi ombudsmen, consisting of experts in their respective fields, are expected to provide stability to the residents of Gyeonggi Province through counselling.” ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News Yoo Jae-hoon

Governor Nam continued, “The principles of the 6th popularly elected provincial administration are client focus, data analysis and satisfaction confirmation. I believe the Gyeonggi ombudsman program can realize these principles,” He added, “I cordially ask the ombudsmen to deal with civil complaints from residents’ point of view.”

He also said, “I’ve have held counselling sessions with provincial residents every Friday since I took office. Most complaints relate to housing and property rights stemming from various development plans. The Gyeonggi ombudsmen, consisting of experts in their respective fields, are expected to provide stability to the residents of Gyeonggi Province through counselling.”

After the appointment ceremony, the seven Gyeonggi ombudsmen held their first regular meeting of 2015 at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government complex to discuss: the election of the representative ombudsman; the operating plan for the Gyeonggi ombudsmen in 2015; and ordinance amendments related to the Gyeonggi ombudsmen.

Through discussion, they elected Hwang Ji-yeon to be the representative ombudsman and agreed to make efforts to communicate with residents to resolve civil complaints. The Gyeonggi ombudsmen will launch a program to  strengthen the ability of related public officials and open a website for online communication and promotion.

Hwang said, “We will compensate for the weak points of the existing complaint-handling system and carefully listen to residents so that no one experiences discrimination.”

If you require the help of the ombudsmen, visit the office of the Ombudsmen Support Team in the Gyeonggi Provincial Government complex (Residential Building #301) or send an application form and related documents by mail. The application form can be downloaded from the website of the Gyeonggi Province (visit www.gg.go.kr and go to Gyeonggi Net → 24/7 Civil Complaints → Gyeonggi Ombudsmen).

For more information, please call 031-8008-4910~11.

◇ After the appointment ceremony, the seven Gyeonggi ombudsmen held their first regular meeting of 2015 at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government complex. ⓒ Gyeonggi G-News