“No More ‘Ping-Pong Complaints’”: 120 Ulsan Civil Complaint Center System to Be Unified Across Districts and Counties

[Financial News, Ulsan = Choi Soo-sang] Ulsan City is moving to improve its complaint intake and handling system, with the 120 Ulsan Civil Complaint Center serving as its control tower, to ease the inconvenience to residents caused by departments passing complaints back and forth in a game of “ping-pong.”
Ulsan City Administrative Bureau Chief Noh Dong-wan held a press conference at City Hall’s press center on the 15th and announced three measures to ensure complaints are resolved promptly and accountably.
The city will first transfer authority to receive and assign petitions submitted through e-People from the existing Office of Civil Rights and Human Rights to the 120 Ulsan Civil Complaint Center in the Self-Governing Administration Division, consolidating the intake channels. To prevent complaints from being passed back and forth because the responsible department is unclear, it plans to introduce case review meetings and, if necessary, designate the responsible department on its own authority.
Starting this December, the 120 Ulsan Civil Complaint Center’s functions will be significantly expanded. It will move beyond basic consultations to a one-stop service that handles everything from receiving a complaint and assigning it to a department to notifying the complainant of the outcome. The Visiting Citizen Communication Team, which visits complaint sites directly to resolve issues, will also begin full-scale operations in the first half of next year.


Ulsan City is also considering establishing a dedicated complaints department, tentatively called the Civil Complaints Division, as part of an organizational restructuring in the first half of 2027. The city plans to extend and connect this unified, 120 Ulsan Civil Complaint Center-led model and its functions to Ulsan’s five districts and counties, with the aim of substantially improving accountability and expertise in complaint administration across the city.
Administrative Bureau Chief Noh Dong-wan said, “We will reduce inconvenience to residents by clarifying the criteria for assigning complaints between departments and strengthening collaboration,” and stressed, “We will create a complaints administration system that does more than listen to residents—it responds accountably.”


[email protected] Choi Soo-sang Reporter