Website to deal with all sorts of questions

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced yesterday that it will launch a comprehensive information website to field complaints and provide information on a variety of issues, including transportation, recycling and lost-and-found items.

The service, which has been dubbed “Eungdapso” (eungdapso.seoul.go.kr), scheduled to open today, is intended to offer more streamlined services previously handled across 31 different channels.

The city government said that it is also planning to make an English-language version of the site in order to better address frustrations or questions regarding daily life.

For now, foreigners are allowed to post questions on the Eungdapso site in their native language after registering on the municipal government’s official website. Seoul said it will respond in corresponding foreign languages.

Users can also file their queries or complaints and receive responses through the online information center. Previously, several divisions were responsible for fielding questions and, as a result, some requests went unnoticed or missing in the process of transferring data.

However, under the new system, the handling time is reduced to an average of 2.3 days from 3.3 days, the city government said, referring to the results of its test operation. In regard to the requests coming from social media channels, the response time was an average of 2.8 days, a decline compared to the 3.3 days under the older system.

Citizens can receive a response via the site, cell phones and social media sites.

“Basically, what we are trying to do is to settle citizens’ requests as soon as possible,” said Kim Seon-soon, an official of the Seoul government’s division in charge of operating the system.

“It took some time to hand over requests to relevant divisions. But now, we have sort of an umbrella organization through which all kinds of questions and complaints come.

“Under this system, we will be able to effectively process data and offer answers more promptly.”

Once the online system adopts better foreign-language services, it will likely replace the role of the 120 Dasan Call Center. The 24-hour information hotline was popular among foreign residents and tourists alike, but it stopped offering foreign-language services last month. It also put limits on the scope of inquiries fielded by hotline workers to reduce employees’ workload.

It now deals strictly with questions about city affairs.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [ejpark@joongang.co.kr]