The problem is that allowing the public to submit petitions anonymously flings the doors wide open to trolls.

So far the presidential office has responded to 36 petitions, including requests to lower the age of criminal prosecution and abolishing the abortion ban, and some have been reflected in government policy.

Cheong Wa Dae launched the website in August last year with a promise to respond to any questions or suggestions posed by the public that gain a certain number of signatures, emulating a system initiated during the Obama administration in the U.S.

Internet trolls are flooding the Cheong Wa Dae petition website with crude and trivial demands targeting individuals or groups, but the presidential office seems unable to figure out how to deal with them.

On Sunday morning, one poster got it into their head to criticize footballer Jang Hyun-soo, following Korea's loss to Mexico in the World Cup in Russia. Soon around 100 petitions were launched on the website calling on the government to exile Jang and even his entire family.

Already earlier this month trolls chose to vent their anger on the website after Korea's loss to Sweden, with some 1,000 petitioners seeking a government inquiry into whether the referee, who awarded the Swedish team a penalty kick, had been bribed by the Swedish government.

Swedish furniture maker IKEA also became a target of the trolls' ire when they sought a tax probe into the company's Korean operations.

That has raised fears that the website has deteriorated to a point where it is nothing but a chat board. Other petitions have been posted calling on the government to shut down the website or require people use their real name.

Cheong Wa Dae says it deletes petitions and comments if they contain bad language or repeat content, but there simply are not enough staff to deal with the recent deluge.

Jung Hye-seung, the presidential secretary in charge of the website, said on May 30, "I believe there needs to be an open space for the public to vent its anger."

But that admirable commitment to free speech has now rendered the website essentially useless. A Cheong Wa Dae official said, "At present, we have no plans to change the way the website is run."