What everyday civic complaint do Seoul residents find most frustrating? In a survey, the largest share of citizens pointed to illegal parking in residential and commercial areas. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) and the Seoul Metropolitan Government have decided to launch a joint investigation to address the problem that citizens themselves selected.
The ACRC said on the 8th that it will conduct a special investigation on "resolving illegal parking and sidewalk obstruction problems" together with the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Citizens' Audit Ombudsman Commission, reflecting citizen input.
The two agencies agreed to jointly examine pressing everyday issues in Seoul this year and conducted a citizen survey from June 11 to 20 through the policy participation platform "Gukmin Saenggakham." In the survey, which drew 971 participants, "improving reporting and enforcement of illegal parking in residential and commercial areas" was selected as the most urgent task, accounting for 23.7% of responses.
It was followed by improving protections for rental housing jeonse deposits (20.9%), improving safety blind spots such as routes home at night (15.2%), improving handling of pedestrian obstructions such as items placed outside stores (13.4%), and improving traffic control systems for urban events such as marathons (11.5%).
In open-ended responses, citizens also offered specific proposals. On illegal parking, many called for towing and heavier fines for habitual and deliberate violators, intensive enforcement around fire hydrants and school zones, simplified reporting procedures, clearer enforcement standards, and expansion of public parking lots and resident-priority parking zones.
On the jeonse deposit issue, respondents suggested expanding eligibility for deposit guarantee insurance, easing premium burdens, strengthening counseling and relief for victims, and expanding support for young people and newlyweds. On late-night safety, many demanded more CCTV cameras, streetlights and emergency bells, along with stronger patrols. On pedestrian environments, respondents called for institutional improvements such as stricter enforcement against store displays and standing signboards and revised standards for sidewalk width.
Based on the survey results, the ACRC and the Seoul Citizens' Audit Ombudsman Commission judged that citizen inconvenience over roads and pedestrian environments was particularly severe, and selected "resolving illegal parking and sidewalk obstruction problems" as this year's joint investigation task. Starting this month, they plan to conduct on-site inspections focused on areas with frequent complaints and gather broad input from related agencies and citizens to develop measures for an environment where everyone can walk safely.
"It is highly meaningful that the central and local governments are working together to solve everyday inconveniences that citizens directly chose," said Cho Deok-hyun, chairman of the Seoul Citizens' Audit Ombudsman Commission. "We will strive to make tangible improvements on issues citizens feel most acutely, such as illegal parking and pedestrian obstructions."
"This is a new 'complaint-to-policy virtuous cycle' model in which central and local grievance-handling agencies cooperate to solve problems citizens experience in daily life," said Jung Il-yeon, chairperson of the ACRC. "We will continue to actively identify and resolve issues closely tied to residents' lives."
