The days of having to visit three different agencies just to obtain a single document may soon be over. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has begun full-scale work to connect fragmented civil service channels under one artificial intelligence (AI) platform.
The ministry will hold a joint workshop for building the “AI Integrated Civil Complaint Platform” on the 21st at Summit One in Seoul. The meeting will be chaired in person by Interior Minister Yoon Ho-jung, and will bring together the National AI Strategy Committee, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, and private-sector AI experts.
◆ The end of the era of being asked the same thing two or three times
Until now, citizens have had to move from one agency to another to resolve a single complaint. They had to repeatedly issue the same documents and often did not even know which system to use. From the public’s perspective, the complaint-handling systems run separately by each ministry were a maze.
The ministry’s vision is to turn that maze into a single entry point. The AI will analyze the complaint, accurately identify the user’s intent, and guide the person to the appropriate processing path. If necessary, it will connect directly to the relevant system and even provide updates on the progress of the application.
The starting points for integration are Government24 and the National Petition Center. The plan is to first link Government24, which handles document issuance and benefit services, and the National Petition Center, which processes complaints and public suggestions, and then expand the scope to systems across all ministries.
Park Tae-woong, head of the Public AX Division at the National AI Strategy Committee, emphasized that “building the technical foundation of the platform so that citizens’ time and effort are minimized in the complaint-handling process is a prerequisite.” He added that he hopes the standards discussed today will serve as the starting point for solving that challenge.
◆ Citizens’ ideas will be turned directly into prototypes
The ministry brought public input into the platform design stage from the beginning. From February 9 to March 6, it held a contest titled “Innovation Scenarios for AI-Based Civil Service and Development Methods.”
Citizens of different ages and backgrounds proposed improvements based on inconveniences they experienced in daily life. The top three teams, which went beyond simply proposing ideas and also presented development methods, will receive prototype development funding of up to 800 million won in total. They will also participate directly in the prototype development process.
A ministry official said, “This will become a new model for innovating civil service, one that directly implements ideas proposed by citizens.”
◆ Standardization of data and ontology work are underway simultaneously
For the platform to function properly, data formats that differ from ministry to ministry must first be standardized. The ministry is currently operating two working groups with the participation of private members and experts from the National AI Strategy Committee.
The civil complaint knowledge system (ontology) working group is responsible for data standardization to improve analytical accuracy. The AI service linkage standards working group is establishing communication protocols so the platform can communicate smoothly with AI services from each ministry.
The workshop will review the level of AI transformation in government services and examine the direction for expansion across all ministries. A key agenda item is the “AI-linked readiness diagnostic chart,” a tool designed to systematically assess each ministry’s preparedness.
The diagnostic chart is designed so that each ministry can answer and review it on its own. It will be operated through a combination of self-assessment and third-party evaluation. Items found to be lacking will come with supplementary guidance.
Hwang Kyu-cheol, head of the AI Government Bureau at the ministry, said, “We will create a civil complaint management system in which AI systematically manages, analyzes, and utilizes public complaint-related data so that citizens can receive guidance and process all complaints through AI.”
◆ The work of breaking down ministry silos still has a long way to go
The concept for the platform is clear, but the road ahead is not short. Each ministry has different data formats and different ways of handling tasks. Standardization itself is a massive administrative coordination effort. Questions of responsibility allocation, security, and personal data handling standards also remain to be resolved.
With the Lee Jae-myung administration having set “realizing an AI democratic government” as a national policy task, civil complaint administration is one of the areas the public will feel first. The ministry said it will reflect the results of this workshop in the platform construction plan and continue strengthening inter-ministerial cooperation.
Whether the ministry can actually tear down bureaucratic silos, rather than merely introduce technology, will determine success or failure. The pace of standardization work, the completeness of the prototype, and the convenience citizens actually feel when using it will be the key measures. For the ministry’s blueprint to become a real single-window system rather than a diagram on paper, the continuity of inter-ministerial cooperation will be crucial.