75 ways to make your life better

The government yesterday announced a number of measures designed to improve daily lives of citizens.

The 75 tasks were chosen from nearly 4,000 ideas that rank-and-file officials proposed last month to address blind spots in public services, Park Hyung-joon, presidential public relations chief, said.

"We have tried to enhance the practicality of our policies by filling the gaps between administrative measures and citizens` daily lives," he said.

The Defense Ministry will allow families to access the online medical records of soldiers when they are treated at military hospitals. The system will be established and tested by next June and will be in operation by next July.



The Justice Ministry will introduce telephone interrogations next month for those who cannot appear at prosecutors` office because of distance or work.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security will improve the electronic tax payment system at provincial governments, using credit cards or automated transfer from bank accounts.

The Korea Forest Service will create more forest resorts for pregnant women and newborn babies.

Police and the Korea Communications Commission will introduce a new identification system for internet messenger communications to curb a growing number of financial scams using the medium.

Registration of business start-ups and closure with the National Tax Service will be made easier.

The Environmental Ministry will establish a more effective system to collect disposable cups from restaurants and coffee shops.

These measures were reported to the president during a meeting at Cheong Wa Dae attended by top policymakers and a group of housewife policy monitors.

"When the government focuses on big policies and regulations, many public service areas remain blind spots," Park said.

"The president has encouraged officials to pay more attention to such problems and spurred them to develop policies to help ordinary citizens," he added.

Last August, the president declared that his government would make the happiness of individuals its central goal.

He directed the government to find out and resolve unattended problems around daily lives of citizens.

In September, Lee convened the first meeting of top officials under the initiative. The government has since pushed 215 steps including tax refunds, cheap loans, neighborhood welfare centers and child health care.

In the second meeting yesterday, the officials reported the progress on those policies.

They said 201 tasks have been implemented. They included the scrapping of the mandatory purchase of government bonds previously imposed on start-up restaurants and other self-employed businesses. Low-interest micro-credit was extended to small merchants at traditional marketplaces.

The remaining 14 tasks will be carried out next year, the presidential office said.

On Monday, the president promised offer a special pardon on Aug. 15 Liberation Day to 1.5 million citizens who broke the law while earning a living.

(jjhwang@heraldm.com)





By Hwang Jang-jin