The government says it filters out ‘ghost private organizations’… “List the member’s name, date of birth, and address.”

While the government is carrying out a nationwide investigation of non-profit private organizations, including civic groups, controversy over illegality is brewing by requesting a wide range of personal information on group members without legal basis. Here, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, which led a complete enumeration under the pretext of filtering out ‘ghost groups’, issued a request for data submission to local governments, knowing that each group was not obliged to submit a list of members, and ‘refusal’ to submit data to the organizations. It was confirmed that the ‘right to do’ was not properly explained. Criticism comes that the government, which mobilized administrative power, is stifling civic groups by inviting ‘controversies against the law’. As a result of the coverage on the 9th, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security launched a complete enumeration of 15,458 non-profit private organizations registered with the government in December of last year to filter out non-substantial private organizations. The Ministry of Public Administration and Security, which established a roadmap including a request to submit materials containing group member names, dates of birth, addresses, and contact information, issued guidelines to local governments to implement them. Since then, private organizations have been requested to submit related data from their local governments. According to the Non-Profit Private Organization Support Act and the Framework Act on Administrative Investigation, private organizations subject to government registration have requirements such as ‘regular members of 100 or more and public interest activities for the past year or more’. To confirm this, the organization requested personal information. If the requirements are not met, the municipality may cancel the group registration. An official from an environmental group said, “Last year, local governments asked us to submit a list of members by e-mail for a full enumeration, so we selected and submitted a list of about 100 people with names, phone numbers, and even the first digit of their date of birth.” I wonder if It doesn’t feel like it’s just for the purpose of putting pressure on civic groups,” he said. In particular, victims of sexual violence and LGBTI human rights groups are protesting against the government’s collection of personal information, saying that it “throttles the socially weak and minorities’ social participation activities.” An official from a support group for victims of sexual violence in Seoul said, “There are victims of sexual violence among its members, so for reasons of privacy protection, ‘Cannot submit. Come to the office and check it out yourself,’ he said. Accordingly, the official in charge came to the office and checked the membership management program.” An LGBTQ support group activist said, “A person’s gender identity can be revealed just by registering as a member, and such a complete enumeration will inevitably dampen the activities of minority groups.” Even the Ministry of Public Administration and Security acknowledged that there is no legal basis for collecting personal information. An official from the Private Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said, “In the case of submitting a list of members, we do not have the right to compulsory investigation, so we cannot forcefully request it. I understand that the right to refuse submission was sufficiently explained on the spot,” he explained. However, officials from about 10 private organizations said in unison, “I have not heard an explanation that they have the right to refuse.” Attorney Park Han-hee (Public Interest Human Rights Lawyers Association Law Making Hope) said, “According to the relevant laws, the government’s complete enumeration of private organizations is a voluntary investigation with no grounds for compulsory investigation, but it is proceeding in the manner of ‘submit a list of members’ unconditionally.” “At least It also does not match the purpose of the Framework Act on Administrative Investigation, which says that a suitable investigation target must be selected within the scope.” Reporter Park Ji-young jyp@hani.co.kr