A man in his 60s, identified as A (64), was sentenced to six months in prison in a recent first-instance trial after being indicted on charges of obstructing official duties for punching the face of a welfare team leader, B, at a community center in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, last October. Investigations revealed that A committed the assault after B asked him to "watch his language" regarding a pregnant team member. During the trial, A claimed diminished capacity due to a mental disorder, but the court did not accept this plea.

Tens of thousands of cases of assault, verbal abuse, and swearing directed at public officials occur every year at public institutions such as community centers. On the other hand, critics point out that response measures such as filing criminal complaints or accusations remain inadequate.

According to a report titled "Eradication of Malicious Civil Complaints and Measures to Strengthen Effective Protection for Civil Service Officials," prepared by the National Assembly Research Service on March 21 of last year, a total of 131,097 unlawful acts against civil complaint handlers occurred from 2021 to 2023. This translates to an average of 151 cases per day based on working days. "Verbal abuse and swearing" were the most common, totaling 109,328 cases over the three years, while "assault" accounted for 806 cases.

In the "2025 Special Civil Complaint Status Survey" conducted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) targeting 1,097 public institution civil complaint handlers, 947 respondents (86%) reported experiencing special civil complaints over the past three years. Special civil complaints refer to complaints that repeatedly raise issues out of dissatisfaction with processing results or disrupt normal operations accompanied by unlawful acts such as verbal abuse and assault.

(A memorial panel reading "Malicious Civil Complaints are Murder" stands in front of the medical affairs team at the Yangsan Public Health Center in Gyeongsangnam-do, where Kim Su-jin (a pseudonym), a health official who passed away, used to work, April 16, 2024. Photo by Kang Han-dol)

Measures to respond to malicious civil complaints remain at a passive level. According to the National Assembly Research Service report, out of the unlawful acts that occurred between 2021 and 2023, cases that led to legal responses such as criminal complaints, accusations, or police reports amounted to only 2,001 cases (1.53%).

In the ACRC's 2025 survey, the rate of legal actions such as criminal complaints or accusations against special civil complaints was only 4.9%, with responses mostly limited to supervisor interventions (30.8%) or simply terminating communication (33.4%). C, a civil complaint handling official, stated on the 21st, "Because higher-ups are reluctant to let issues blow up, it almost never leads to criminal complaints or accusations against malicious complainants."

(Jeon Sung-hwan, Senior Presidential Secretary for Petition and Integration, speaks at the 1st Conflict Resolution Officer Workshop held at the Post Tower in Seoul on May 12. Provided by the Office of the President)

Last June, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety (MOIS) announced a plan to reorganize the response system for repetitive and special civil complaints into an institutional responsibility response framework. MOIS and the ACRC stated, "We will designate a 'Conflict Resolution Officer' for each institution to unify response channels, and when unlawful acts occur, the institution will take strong legal actions such as filing criminal complaints or accusations." Official C noted, "With the introduction of the Conflict Resolution Officer, work seems to have become a bit smoother."

Lee Jong-duk, head of the Seocho-gu branch of the Korean Government Employees' Union, pointed out, "While special complaint officers are active in some institutions like Seocho-gu, in most places, government or MOIS manuals—such as separating public entrances for civil complainants—are still not being followed." He added, "Even in union surveys, the demand for protection against malicious complaints ranked the highest, and many frontline officials are resigning due to the suffering caused by malicious complaints."