1. Article 2 subparag. 2 of the former Civil Petitions Treatment Act (amended by Act No. 11492, Oct. 22, 2012; hereinafter “Civil Petitions Treatment Act”) provides that “Civil petitions refer to the affairs pertaining to a request by a civil petitioner for a specific act, such as disposition, against an administrative agency (hereinafter “civil petitions”).” Article 24(1) provides that “The head of an administrative agency shall, in handling civil petitions, directly conduct all procedures following confirmation of materials inside the administrative agency in question, cooperation with the relevant agency departments, etc., by having the public official in charge conduct the one-time visit civil petition treatment system so that the civil petitioner does not visit the administrative agency again for unnecessary reasons by establishing the one-time visit civil petition treatment system.” Meanwhile, Article 24(3) provides that “Operation of a committee to deliberate complex civil petitions” under subparagraph 3 as one of the procedures for deliberation and coordination of matters related to civil petitions under subparagraph 4.

In addition, Article 36(1) of the former Enforcement Decree of the Civil Petitions Treatment Act (amended by Presidential Decree No. 22975, Jun. 21, 201; hereinafter “Enforcement Decree”) provides that the head of an administrative agency shall establish and operate a working-level comprehensive council under his/her jurisdiction to deliberate on complex civil petitions. The main text of Article 37(1) provides that the head of an administrative agency shall establish and operate a civil petition coordination committee to deliberate on and coordinate matters falling under any of the subparagraphs of Article 37(1). Article 36(4) provides that “whether the law applicable to civil petitions decided by the competent processing department or the working-level comprehensive council pursuant to Article 36 is appropriate” and subparagraph 7 provides that “other matters referred by the head of the agency for comprehensive review and coordination of civil petitions.”