Bill to ease inconvenience of seal-related administrative services

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo [Yonhap]
People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo [Yonhap]

People Power Party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo, who represents Bundang-gap in Gyeonggi Province, announced Sunday that he had introduced a bill to amend the Seal Certification Act, allowing residents to handle seal-related matters at any nearby community center.

Under current law, anyone wishing to change their registered personal seal must visit the community center in the district where the seal was originally registered. This has long drawn complaints, as people living away from their registered address — for reasons such as study, work or medical treatment — are still required to travel back to their home district to make any changes.

The proposed amendment would allow any institution authorized to issue seal certificates to also accept filings and applications for a range of seal-related matters, including changes to a registered seal. Under the bill, residents could handle not only seal changes but also initial registrations, re-registrations, updates to registered information, death notifications, and requests to cancel or reinstate a seal — all at the nearest issuing institution.

In addition, the bill would require institutions receiving such filings to process them through an electronic link with the institution that maintains the official seal registry. This is expected to enable faster verification and processing of seal-related information across agencies, reducing unnecessary visits and administrative burdens on the public.

"It is a significant inconvenience for people living away from their registered address — whether for study, work or medical treatment — to have to travel all the way back to their home district just to handle seal-related matters," Ahn said. "Through this amendment, we will make seal-related administrative services more accessible and improve public services so that people do not have to waste unnecessary time and effort."


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