There are many petition sites in South Korea. Those are in a kind of system in which the federal or local governments directly respond to petitions and take substantial action if many people have agreed with the contents and receive consent above a certain standard. Among South Korea’s petition sites, ‘The Blue House's public petition’ is the most popular, with about 690,000 people's petitions posted between August 2017 and October 2019. The reason for such public popularity is that the central government directly answers petitions agreed by more than 200,000 people under the rule of "The central government answers when the people ask". Therefore, it became customary to file a petition with the people about what they thought was unjust or needed to be resolved at the national level. However, the function of communication in the petition has gradually being disrupted.
This problem starts with people who abuse petitions. When you click The Blue House’s national petition site, it states that "It may be difficult to answer to complaints of hate against individuals and groups, when trials are underway, related to the work of local governments". However, a series of postings that violate the above have been posted one after another, spreading interest in petitions that need to be resolved quickly. The lack of content restrictions, one of the advantages of The Blue House’s petition, is increasingly making it difficult for the petition site to play its part. The media also contributed to this negative result. This is because the contents of the petition are published in the news without confirming the facts. ‘Oh My News’, an Internet Newspaper, in February this year said, ‘President Moon Jae-in’s impeachment as president’ petition's contents were false, yet was reported by Kookmin Newspaper as true. Therefore, when reporting on a petition, the media must select and verify its contents.
Finally, there is a problem with the government, which relies too much on public petitions. The national petition will show the government's answer to the degree, but it does not guarantee an official resolution. Therefore, the public is skeptical about the ideal result that the problem will be solved even if the people gather their opinions and petition. As a result, the government would work hard to listen to the people's opinions, but in the long run, the credibility of the government could be lessened. The government needs to take a direct move to win public trust.
It is the basic instinct of human beings to tell others if you think something is unfair. However, there is no point in going to an opponent who can't solve the problem properly. Therefore, we should think of a rational attitude about what to do first. Next, the media should report the petition based on facts so that it can properly deliver people’s opinions. Finally, the government should do its best to collect opinions from the public through various ways other than the national petition and to realize the contents of the petition, which is in desperate need. A national petition can function properly when a combination of the people, the media, and the government work together properly.
