“In my first year as the mayor of Seongnam, I gathered complaints while randomly inspecting neighborhoods. The volume was this much in the first year. I handed out sheets of paper and told everyone to fill them out. By the year I left office, it had decreased to this amount. It had been resolved.”

President Lee Jae-myung presides over the 26th Cabinet Meeting at the presidential office in Yongsan, Seoul, on the 19th. /Courtesy of President Lee Jae-myung’s SNS

This is a remark by President Lee Jae-myung emphasizing the importance of handling 'complaints.' This took place during a Cabinet meeting on the 19th, when the supplementary budget for 2025 was being addressed. It is said that the President spent more than half of his remarks, which lasted over ten minutes, discussing complaints. Generally, central government officials encounter fewer complaints compared to local government officials, and thus have not received many directives regarding complaints. However, the President’s remarks are expected to elevate the importance of handling complaints within the central government.

During this Cabinet meeting, the President noted, “Receiving taxes and doing what the people need is the essence of administration, but there is a tendency to view 'complaints' as annoying matters, or things that would be better off not existing. Therefore, we tend to regard them lightly and avoid them, but this should not be the case.” He then shared his experiences from his time as the mayor during the 6th elected term.

The background of the President's direct introduction of the online National Communication Platform called 'I hope for President Lee Jae-myung' (tentative) on social media also stemmed from this remark. This day marked the President’s first schedule after returning from the G7 summit, during which he chaired the Cabinet meeting. Ahead of the first review of the supplementary budget since the establishment of the new government, all ministries were focusing on the second supplementary budget of 30.5 trillion won (including revenue adjustments). This meeting was also the occasion to finalize the payment method for the livelihood recovery consumption coupons, which was a key issue.

Nevertheless, the President spent a significant amount of his speaking time discussing 'complaint handling methods.' He stated, “We need to handle matters swiftly to ensure that the citizens do not feel ignored or unjustly treated by the government and administrative bodies. We should reduce the time taken and provide honest explanations for what cannot be done.” He added, “In my experience, our citizens are quite enlightened, and if someone authoritative explains sincerely, most tend to understand. There aren’t many instances of people being unreasonable.”

He also shared his experiences of visiting each neighborhood every early year during his time as the mayor in the 6th elected term. At that time, the President implemented a complaint evaluation system related to 'civil servant promotions.' This system involved reflecting the discovery and handling records of complaints in personnel evaluations. It is said that he also mentioned in other private meetings how he changed the response methods for complaints during his term, which led to a reduction in complaints compared to the beginning of his term.

The President had also emphasized the importance of complaints during his tenure as the leader of the Democratic Party of Korea. In February, he shared his experiences from his time as the mayor during the launch ceremony of 'Everyone's Question Q,' a policy communication platform under the Democratic Research Institute, part of the Democratic Party of Korea. The intention was to collect social issues, including complaints, on the platform, and then incorporate them into a pledge book.

An official from the Presidential Office noted on the 20th, “The President is applying many of the experiences he had while serving as a local government head to central administration,” adding, “Many tasks in local governments involve handling complaints, and there was a call to refine and expand that to dramatically change how it is approached.”