South Korea's interior and safety ministry held a competition on Thursday to gather opinions from citizens on how to make public services better.
Around a dozen teams presented their ideas as they competed for the top prize,... a Presidential Citation.
Yoon Jung-min reports.
The South Korean government is seeking ways... to encourage citizens' participation in their policymaking decisions... as a way to achieve true democracy.
On Thursday, the interior and safety ministry hosted a competition in Seoul... to gather ideas from the public... on ways to improve public services.
A total of 11 teams... including ordinary citizens and government officials from across the nation... presented their ideas.
The goal of the event was to improve the quality of government services,... ranging from social welfare, local festivals, youth employment to more.

One team won the Presidential Citation and two teams were granted the Prime Minister's Citation,... while others were awarded prizes by the interior ministry.
The teams discussed outreach programs to help people in need in their communities,... and ways to revitalize local festivals and other projects as well.

"I hope our residents can enjoy a better, more positive life through our projects, although they are suffering from poor living conditions right now."

"Local festivals are very common events anyone can enjoy. But there are a lot of problems, too. We came up with the idea to solve such issues through the perspective of young people."

The ministry says heeding the public's voice is important for policymakers... as they can better determine what people want from the government.

The ideas presented at the competition will be shared with other government agencies to improve quality of public services.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.