1. Background to promotion

The MyData project, which is being carried out by the public sector, is a key task of digital government innovation by which the general public, as an information main player, can directly manage and control their own information and independently use information in their daily lives as and when necessary. These MyData services in the public sector&nbsp;enable access to various government services using only the required information, without requiring the issuance of documents, certificates, forms, or printouts, as members of the public directly use their own administrative information (MyData) held by public institutions.

Demand for the deployment of MyData services has steadily increased due to the convenience perceived by the public. Indeed, demand for the use of MyData in the public sector has risen significantly from 79 documents in 2020 to 228 documents in 2021. Since the revision of the three main data-related acts (January 2020), there has been considerable interest in and demand for MyData in the industrial sector. Furthermore, the interest in and demand for administrative identity information have also increased more than fivefold in the financial sector compared to 2020.

&nbsp;

2. Main description and promotion procedure

The key point of the MyData in the public sector&nbsp;is to facilitate access to,&nbsp;and distribute,&nbsp;personal data. However, there have been many difficulties in terms of linkage and consultation with the various participating institutions with regard to data distribution. &nbsp;To resolve this problem and expand the use of MyData in&nbsp;the public sector, the main goals of the project to distribute MyData in the public sector&nbsp;in 2021 have been to stabilize the MyData services in the public&nbsp;sector, expand the range of service uses, arrange the related laws and acts and the related provide guidelines&nbsp;and build a distribution system (portal, etc.) of MyData in the public sector&nbsp;that ensures the right to data portability.

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2022/01/05/bfeb425a-d9b4-4435-ac68-5d2bc64b6ce3.jpg" style="width: 100%;" /> 
Among these goals, linkage and expansion of MyData in the public sector&nbsp;could be the key collaborative content of the win-win strategy between the related institutions that use MyData in the public sector. The linkage of MyData in the public sector&nbsp;means that individuals can provide &lsquo;individual administrative information (provided documents)&rsquo; or administrative information held by administrative and public institutions in the form of &lsquo;datasets&rsquo; by extracting only the items they need. New datasets are being discovered and data linkage promoted through continuous consultation with institutions that hold data and agencies that use data, while the level of demand among administrative and public institutions seeking to adopt the MyData services is being surveyed. The survey conducted in May 2021 found that some 228 documents had been provided for the services, while the comprehensive review conducted in June 2021 found that 32 documents of new datasets had been selected. Since then, work-related consultations have been ongoing, such as data linkage methods between institutions that hold data and agencies that use data, along with service model reviews. This project aims to provide MyData services related to the 32 new datasets by January 2022.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2022/01/05/f7c88876-8cf0-4811-b4b7-7975ddef69ec.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The second key element of collaboration is the provision of support to the institutions participating in MyData in the public sector. Professional technical support and training aimed at enhancing competencies are provided so as to assist the smooth adoption of MyData in the public sector by more administrative and public institutions. The technical support center of MyData in the public sector&nbsp;is operated and managed to conduct service reception, collect the consulting history, and provide consulting support. In addition, competence training customized to consumers is provided for the responsible parties, such as ministries, agencies, local governments, and public institutions.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2022/01/05/4e28c017-250f-4d7d-ac03-d10573c5070b.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

&nbsp;

3. Major achievements and success factors

There have been two major achievements resulting from consultation with the related institutions using MyData in the public sector. The most important achievement is the ongoing improvement of administrative work efficiency and service convenience. From the viewpoint of the general public, the inconvenience involved in the issuance and submittal of required documents during administrative work has been eliminated, and more convenient services are now available. From the viewpoint of administrative and public institutions, their work efficiency has been improved as they can process administrative information directly from their computers, unlike in the past when they had to view and handle the documents submitted by individual persons.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2022/01/05/11837908-25ad-44ad-a35b-e807a9afc7fe.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

As an example of the improvement of efficiency and convenience, the Gyeonggi-do Job Foundation, Small Enterprise and Market Service, and collaboration between the Korea Credit Information Services and Samsung Card have been confirmed as having successfully provided demonstration services in 2021. With the expansion of the scope of the demonstration service in 2022, service requests for passport applications, rental housing subscriptions for low-income families, and much more will be completed at once without requiring the submittal of any additional documents.

Another key achievement concerns the strengthening of the collaborative system. A consultative group of institutions that use MyData dataset services in the public sector&nbsp;(June 2021 to January 2022) and work consultation to promote MyData in the public sector with 19 related institutions, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Seoul City (July 1, 2021), has been arranged to consolidate the system of collaboration between institutions. In the future, legislation will be established and arranged to stabilize and promote MyData services in the public sector. As the two main applicable laws, namely the Complaint Handling Act and the Electronic Government Act, have been enforced since the second half of 2021, it is necessary to rapidly establish and promulgate the revised subordinate statutes as early as possible, which should be followed by the establishment of instructions and guidelines that explain how to implement and process the right to data portability, which is specified in the applicable laws. The urgent demand for the transmission of MyData in the public sector will be responded to through collaboration and consultation with the relevant institutions. The gradual expansion of the services is now underway, along with the provision of 90 datasets as of October 2021, in accordance with the aim of providing 140 datasets by 2022, and 180 datasets by 2023.

Promotion of Win-Win Strategy between Related Institutions Using
MyData in the public sector in Korea

https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/upload/image/2022/01/26/d693aa33-6947-476d-bae8-cf4d6d8f4a31.jpg

1. Background to the promotion (emergence of the non-face-to-face and digital transformation era)

With advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, numerous innovative cutting-edge technologies in the industry, medical, and environmental sectors have been introduced, leading to a new paradigm shift throughout society. Our society is now becoming a hyper-connected society due to the emergence of various new and powerful technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing, accelerating the shift from existing centralized platforms to decentralization. At the same time, our society is also evolving into a customized intelligent society based on the principles of opening and sharing. With the emergence of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the non-face-to-face culture and digital transformation have also been accelerated due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the global pandemic is prolonged indefinitely, face-to-face activities have declined, whereas the non-face-to-face economy has grown exponentially.

Accordingly, the need for self-identification and proof of identity has increased, resulting in greater demand for the improvement of inconvenient methods of identification. In the past, resident registration cards and accredited certificates were largely used as a means of self-identification. However, the physical ID cards used in offline methods of identification, such as resident registration cards or driver&#39;s licenses, are inconvenient to carry about at all times and vulnerable to loss. They are also vulnerable to forgery and alteration, as well as the exposure of sensitive private information including one&rsquo;s resident registration number. On the other hand, self-identification using online IDs or accredited certificates* may also be vulnerable to such risks as forgetting one&rsquo;s password due to infrequent use, or hacking and theft, or such difficulties as having to install diverse programs for identification purposes.

* &ldquo;Accredited certificates&rdquo; refers to a kind of digital identity certificate issued by an accredited certification body designated by the government after undergoing a strict examination procedure. It is an electronic signature used to prove the identity of the signer in various areas, such as Internet banking, online stock, e-commerce, e-government civil services, and electronic tax invoicing.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

&nbsp;

2-1. Promotion procedure (simplified authentication)

As non-face-to-face services are prevalent these days, the need for a reliable means of digital identification has increased considerably. Thus, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has promoted a digital identity authentication service project in light of the digital fusion era in a bid to solve the inconvenience of existing identity authentication systems.

The accredited certificates used in existing identity authentication were first introduced based on the Digital Signature Act, which was enforced in July 1999 according to the trends of the 1990s. The accredited certificates, which emerged due to the need for a means of identification in the new digital environment, were issued by accredited certification bodies designated after undergoing a strict examination procedure by the government. The issued accredited certificates were used to prove the identity of the signer in place of a registered seal or a resident registration certificate at the Internet sites of public institutions and banks among others*.

* According to Article 1 of the 「Digital Signature Act」, the act aims to &ldquo;secure the safety and reliability of electronic messages and to promote their use&rdquo;, and the accredited certificate was developed and used as a means of proving whether electronic documents have been falsified or altered.

Following the launch of the accredited certificate service in 2000, banks adopted the use of accredited certificates as a means to replace bankbooks and ID cards. The government enforced the mandatory use of accredited certificates in Internet banking and online stock trades in 2002 and 2003, respectively. In addition, the government enforced the use of accredited certificates in all e-commerce trades over KRW 300,000 from 2006. As the government enforced the mandatory use of accredited certificates in electronic financial trades, the use of electronic signatures spread rapidly with the use of accredited certificates. In the early days of their adoption, &nbsp;accredited certificates were used mainly in electronic financial transaction areas such as Internet banking and online stock trades.&nbsp;

However, the scope of their use has since been expanded to include diverse public areas such as online applications for housing purchase, electronic civil services, year-end tax adjustment, income reports, electronic procurement, and military service, all of which are now essential. Although the active use of accredited certificates contributed to promoting national informatization and improving the quality of life of the country&rsquo;s citizens, the government&rsquo;s legal enforcement of the use of only accredited certificates nonetheless inhibited the innovation of other electronic signature technologies and services, as well as limiting the right of users to use various new and more convenient types of electronic signature. In addition, accredited certificates must be renewed every year and require the use of a complex password, which is inconvenient, and makes it necessary to install various security programs such as Active X, which can only run in specific operating systems and web browsers. Because of this, there has been much criticism of the inconvenience in using accredited certificates from the technical and service viewpoints. To remedy this, the government first eased the mandatory use of accredited certificates in electronic financial trades and the mandatory installation of Active X and security programs, and then abolished the mandatory use of accredited certificates in 2015. Nonetheless, many government institution websites still demand the mandatory use of accredited certificates.&nbsp;

The government abolished the exclusive use of accredited certificates in 2020 to promote convenient and reliable new electronic signature services by applying various new technologies such as blockchains and biometrics in an effort to stimulate greater competitiveness in the electronic signature market. Since the exclusive use of accredited certificates was abolished with the revision of the Digital Signature Act in 2020, the same legal effects have also been granted to various private electronic signature technologies. Now, there are various electronic signature sign-up methods which enable identity authentication using a mobile phone number, account number, or resident registration number through a simplified authentication system that is convenient to use because there is no need to install various programs or to renew it every year. In addition, it can resolve the user inconvenience caused by variations in electronic signature methods between public sites as a result of there being many types of electronic signatures, and also achieve market fairness as it creates an environment in which electronic signature providers can compete fairly with one another.

Since January 2021, the government has promoted a pilot project to adopt and expand convenient private electronic signatures in the public sector. More specifically, the government will expand various private electronic signature services in addition to existing accredited certificates when using major public websites such as the Hometax year-end tax adjustment simplified service, the issuance service of resident registration certificates for year-end tax adjustment in Government 24, and the civil complaint/suggestion application service. The government is also committed to continuously expanding public websites that use the &ldquo;simplified authentication&rdquo; installed with various private electronic signatures.

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/31/24c25573-6531-4fac-a996-aa315935e5eb.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The Ministry of Science and ICT has established a scheme of evaluation and accreditation to ensure that the official operating standards of electronic signature authentication are observed in order to ensure the reliability of the electronic signature authentication services. In addition, non-face-to-face mobile communication subscription using private electronic signatures has been made possible by applying the ICT regulatory sandbox*.&nbsp;

* A regulatory sandbox targeting ICT-combined services. The term &ldquo;regulatory sandbox&rdquo; originates from the idea of a sandbox where children can play freely. It refers to a system that allows testing by partial exemption or deferral of the existing regulations within a certain period or area to encourage the creation of novel products and services without suppressing innovation, as rapidly changing new technologies and industries may collide with the existing regulations.

Furthermore, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has signed a memorandum of understanding with electronic signature providers to build a cooperation system to enable the smooth introduction of private electronic signatures in the public sector. The ministry also plays a role in supporting electronic signature providers&rsquo; efforts to provide reliable digital signature services through a common digital signature authentication platform. As such, the government has implemented a range of policies aimed at allowing the public to use more convenient and reliable electronic signature services at public websites.

&nbsp;

2-2. Promotion procedure (mobile ID cards)

In recent years, as non-face-to-face services have expanded, the limitations of physical ID cards have been recognized, with the result that much attention has been paid to mobile ID cards. Mobile ID cards are ID cards that can be generated and used by storing a national ID card on a mobile device in a digitized state. The use of existing plastic ID cards is now extremely restricted online, and only some non-face-to-face financial services use photos in plastic ID cards for identification purposes. Plastic ID cards are not only inconvenient to carry but also vulnerable to the exposure of sensitive personal information and such risks as theft and forgery, so nowadays people generally keep and use them at home rather than carrying them around on their person. On the other hand, mobile ID cards can be used both offline and online, and only required information can be selected and provided, which is advantageous in various respects. In addition, the mobile ID card can overcome the drawbacks of existing IDs because it is resistant to forgery and alteration as it is based on blockchain technology.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Ministry of Personnel Management initially introduced the &#39;mobile civil service card&#39; to some ministries in January 2021 as a pilot project to verify and evaluate its stability in the public office environment, before introducing the nationwide mobile ID as part of an integrated online and offline identification system. The mobile civil service card can be used together with existing plastic civil service cards, both online and offline, after receiving it via a smartphone app. Civil servants can also use this when exiting and entering security gates in the Government Complex Sejong and the Government Complex Seoul, as well as in the National Library of Korea, Sejong when they wish to borrow a book. &nbsp;In addition, mobile civil service cards can be used when logging in to personal computers and apps without using the Government Public Key Infrastructure (GPKI) online, and without having to store or submit mobile evidence documents.

The government plans to expand mobile licenses starting with mobile civil service cards, followed by mobile driver&#39;s licenses in 2021, national merit certificates in 2022, and disability registration cards, alien registration cards, and youth ID cards from 2023. The mobile driver&rsquo;s license, the first mobile ID card intended for all citizens, will be run as a pilot project from January 2022.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/31/6803ed6a-891d-49f5-aaca-86b31e20659d.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

In contrast with a physical license, the mobile driver&#39;s license stores information only on the user&#39;s mobile phone, and users can provide only the information they choose. The mobile driver&rsquo;s license has the equivalent effects of a physical driver&rsquo;s license. It can be used both online and offline, as it can be used not only for issuing civil services, opening non-face-to-face bank accounts, and renting vehicles, but also for presenting an ID at a government office or an ID to verify one&rsquo;s adult status at a convenience store.

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/31/fd62d069-25c7-4f6f-96d4-8a8ca4b591e6.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The mobile ID cards issued by the government, along with the mobile civil service cards of the future, are developed using the &ldquo;self-sovereign identity&rdquo; (SSI), which is provided as needed when a user holds his or her personal information. In the past, an institution that issued an account held a user&rsquo;s personal information and accredited personal identity. However, identity subjects now own their identity information usage history through the SSI, which reduces privacy infringements and allows identity information to be verified without the intervention of another party through a decentralized identifier, thereby enabling identity information to be managed transparently and securely.

&nbsp;

3. Future prospects

According to a report issued by the McKinsey Global Institute in 2019, countries that use digital identification will generate a significant increase in economic value equivalent to a rise of 3 to 13% of their gross domestic product by 2030. Digital identification is the key to the inclusive growth that individuals, companies, and governments all seek to benefit from. Accordingly, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety is committed to leading innovation in the public and private sectors beyond the innovation of government through digital identification.

Digital Identification in Korea

https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/upload/image/2021/12/31/a8fb0d3d-a47a-43f6-be74-7d9273148a6e.jpg

1. Background to promotion

It is necessary to provide effective public services to meet public demand based on data, as prescribed under the Data-Based Administration Activation Act. Government departments can improve their work methods, boost administrative efficiency, and provide high-quality services to the general public through data-based administration.&nbsp;

In order to improve their work methods and thus meet public expectations, a model for automatic identification of the relevant departments has been developed. This model was motivated by an idea about how to improve government works by combining a data analysis model with organization review-related tasks in the Organization Planning Division under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. In the existing work process model, individual employees work based on their knowledge, experience, and search ability, whereas the automatic identification model combines text analysis with the existing work process model.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

2. Promotion procedure

The goals of data analysis were determined and the range of the promotional work finalized in February 2021. Accordingly, the analysis goals were concretized with a list, such as &ldquo;identification of the related departments throughout all ministries via keyword search&rdquo; and &ldquo;automatic search of organization review files&rdquo;, and the development of the automatic identification model of the relevant departments in all government ministries was initiated by each department. Then, a functional upgrade and wider use of the model throughout all ministries were confirmed as the general direction of project promotion.&nbsp;

After completing the initial development of the pilot model (March to April 2021), the model was upgraded by taking into account on-site opinions, data addition of basic rules of operation for the institutions in charge of its operation, and improving the search function (May 2021). From June 2021, the developed model was transferred to the development server of the government organization management system, and its pilot operation was commenced after completing the environmental configuration process.

&nbsp;

3. Contents

The automatic identification model of the related departments extracted the representative keywords of the key functions by departments in the organization enforcement regulations using a data mining technique, developed four types of identification and search functions for the related departments among the ministries, and implemented search screens considering user convenience. The four types of searches functions are as follows:

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/30/e2adb0c3-e277-44ba-91e4-6d596afe6343.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

When a person responsible for handling a given organizational task encounters an issue, such as child abuse, through the automatic identification model of the related departments, he or she can respond to the issue rapidly and accurately by improving the existing method, which finds the related departments manually by a person in charge of an organizational task individually throughout all ministries.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/30/57840752-9136-4abf-87ff-8557e5112c78.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

&nbsp;

4. Expected effects

The automatic identification model has many positive effects, including efficient and accurate organizational work supports (response to urgent issues and configuration of the collaboration system). Previously, the individual persons in charge of each organizational task surveyed and collected data manually to respond to the organizational configuration of pending issues throughout all ministries. It generally took one to two days to configure a response system using the survey and collection method based on manual work, although a quicker response was required for emergency issues. Now, the ability to respond to pending issues has been improved by real-time identification of the related departments using an analysis model that employed the proactive use of public data and text analysis technology, and a rapid and accurate response system can be realized when summoning an emergency meeting.

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/30/8ebcccae-1070-42d6-b5ca-2caeee8f8f71.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

In the future, it will be possible to conduct a real-time search of the appropriate persons in charge of specific works by extending the users of the model to include general civil servants instead of just persons in charge of organizational work. Previously, one depended on organizational charts, press releases, or background knowledge when requesting work cooperation, such as a data review, from other ministries, which made it difficult to find the relevant departments or persons in charge of a task, as well as being time-consuming and wasting administrative resources, as the details of specific tasks were delivered to too many unnecessary departments even after issuance of the task request. However, if the proposed automatic identification model is widely adopted in the future, it will be possible to automatically find the departments and tasks related to a specific task throughout all ministries, thereby achieving a rapid and accurate search for the departments concerned.

Finally, the model can be spread by linking it with other platforms. Public satisfaction with services can be improved via linkage with civil proposal and complaint platforms that are directly related to civil services. The assignment of a person to manage the civil complaint platforms, such as national petitions and e-People, could be improved and automated using the data analysis model, thereby shortening the time taken to respond and improving the accuracy of response. By linking the search model of the related departments throughout all ministries within the Collaboration Matching Platform at Gwanghwamoon 1st Street, a collaboration system can be fully supported to solve pending policy issues, such as suggesting candidate departments preemptively to those who propose collaboration.

&nbsp;

5. Future plans

Currently, upgrading or improving the model&rsquo;s functions, such as the keyword extraction function, enhancing user convenience by securing additional data, and applying the model to the government organization management system are being promoted for the second half of 2021. In the mid-to-long term, it will be necessary to review such matters as how to improve access to the model by general civil servants, and how to promote widespread use of the model and link it with other proposals and civil complaint reception channels, in order to improve public services and promote collaboration with other related ministries.

Development of Model for Automatic Identification of Relevant Departments in Korea

https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/upload/image/2021/12/30/ec6b3d3e-66ab-44e8-a90c-9f46ab732336.jpg

In Korea the debate concerning welfare blind spots has been going on for some time now. The Korean government has taken an interest in issues related to welfare blind spots and promoted policies to resolve them in earnest since 2014. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has surveyed welfare blind spots comprehensively and announced the restructuring of the customized payment system of the National Basic Livelihood Security Scheme and the mitigation of the selection criteria. In addition, it has steadily increased the assistance budget. In 2019, the amount of welfare expenditure was increased by 4.1 times compared to 1990, showing the fastest increase among the member states of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). National assistance in the social welfare sector amounted to KRW 97.9 trillion (17.5%) out of the government budget of KRW 558 trillion as of 2021, and local governments have also set aside their own welfare assistance budgets.

 
1. Background to promotion

One of the main reasons for the existence of welfare blind spots, i.e. areas where assistance is not properly delivered, is the failure to fully publicize, or raise public awareness of, the benefits of welfare services. The government is now making efforts to offer guidance and advertise its policies through various channels such as the press, the Internet, and social networking services for the benefit of citizens who need welfare services. Nonetheless, welfare blind spots still remain, and socially disadvantaged persons or groups who urgently need welfare benefits are often separated from their local communities or face many difficulties in obtaining or checking welfare service-related information by themselves. It is also cumbersome for members of the general public to search the websites of the relevant ministries by themselves or visit government offices to obtain information about which welfare benefits they may be eligible to receive among the many different welfare schemes.

&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/30/aae95173-b510-46cb-bf8d-25799bd4d9f7.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

&nbsp;

2. Details of promotion&nbsp;

To solve these problems, the government has introduced the &ldquo;Subsidy 24&rdquo; system, which allows citizens to check and apply for welfare services simply by logging in to Government 24, without having to visit individual institutions or websites in person. The USA (benefits.gov) and the UK (gov.uk) are also providing this kind of service to improve access to information, but their services are limited to the provision of guidance and information about customized benefit services, and citizens have to follow a question and answer process and provide personal information such as their date of birth, address, and income. In Korea, members of the public previously had to check the websites of the institutions concerned one by one in order to find out whether they were eligible for benefits or welfare services or to obtain assistance. Now, however, they can check and apply for customized services according to their individual needs simply by logging into the Government 24 website.&nbsp;

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety established a plan to gradually expand the target of customized guidance and online applications over a period of three years from 2020 to 2022, of which the first phase was completed in 2020. Since February of this year, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has conducted and completed a pilot operation targeting 13 local governments*, and officially opened the service for all citizens on April 28. Now, all citizens can consult customized guidance on 305 services provided by the central government, including subsidies for work and children and the Youth Tomorrow Chaeum Deduction (the provision of tax benefits for youth in order to encourage employment in SMEs and induce long-term employment) at a glance. The service can be accessed online at the Government 24 website or via the related app. In addition, the system is being improved and collaboration with local governments is being promoted to enable disadvantaged groups such as the elderly to use the Subsidy 24 when they visit community centers.

* Incheon (Yeonsu-gu, Michuhol-gu), Daegu (Dong-gu, Seo-gu, Suseong-gu, Dalseo-gu, Dalseong-gun), Chungnam (Boryeong-si, Asan-si, Seosan-si, Seocheon-gun, Cheongyang-gun, Hongseong-gun)

&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/30/70e43918-47da-426b-b2d4-4c012ade2579.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

In February and April of this year, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety checked the readiness status of Subsidy 24 by appointing a person in charge of eup, myeon, and dong 3,419 Community Centers to offer customized guidance on offline Subsidy 24 targeting the pilot areas and to provide education. In May, on-site visits were paid to local governments* to investigate their difficulties in providing the offline service and to derive improvements. All these efforts have helped to consolidate the foundations for the provision of more convenient public services.

* Seoul (Gwanak, Songpa), Busan, Gwangju (Gwansan, Seo-gu), Gyeonggi (Suwon, Uijeongbu, Namyangju), Jeonbuk (Iksan, Wanju), Gyeongnam 
&nbsp; 
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will implement the second phase of Subsidy 24 from the end of 2021, thereby enabling the provision of not only 305 customized information services among the 1,000 welfare services provided by the central government, but also around 3,000 customized guidance services out of the 6,000 services provided by the metropolitan and basic local governments. Furthermore, the number of online services that can be applied for directly via Government 24 has been increased significantly from 25 to around 300. There are also plans to broaden the range of people who can receive customized guidance, so that citizens can check services not only for themselves but also for members of the same household or family members living with them. Moreover, the service, which was previously provided through personal computers, mobile apps, and visits to community centers, will be linked to the home visit service, etc. in order to expand the channels of access to the Subsidy 24 service for the socially disadvantaged so that the citizens can receive their benefits more conveniently and easily.

Phase 3 of the Subsidy 24 project, scheduled to start in 2022, will expand the scope of eligibility for the guidance and application services and customized guidance further than that of Phase 2. Information and application services will also be established for diverse services provided by public or private organizations, such as the Data Youth Campus of the Korea Data Agency, the online scholarship of the Korea Gas Corporation, and support for the hearing impaired by KT&amp;G (Korea Tomorrow &amp; Global Corporation Welfare Foundation). In addition, the range of services that can be applied for online will be expanded further. As the range of eligible recipients will be extended to include family members on the Family Relations Register, it will also be possible to check the benefits available to grandparents by using the service. &nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/30/14b54a22-2acc-4db3-bc32-7ec036c8307b.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The government has promoted advertisements through various channels in order to improve public access to welfare benefits and to ensure that eligible persons do not miss out on the benefits, and has raised awareness and use of the Subsidy 24 system. Subsidy 24 aims to enhance the quality, reliability, and transparency of public administration through citizens&rsquo; participation in the policy process, in keeping with the country&rsquo;s status as a mature democracy, by actively encouraging citizen participation rather than relying on unilateral policy advertisements by the government. The name of Subsidy 24 was chosen by voting on the brand name and a design proposal for national assistance customized services. The government has promoted public participation in various events, such as the recruitment of a national online experience group and a contest to discover advertisement contents that meet the needs of the public.&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/30/3911019e-baf6-4f09-ab71-506970833acd.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

3. Main achievements and expected future effects

Much attention has been paid to Subsidy 24 by the general public, as well as the efforts of the government. There have been many cases in which individuals have voluntarily produced and employed advertisement materials through YouTube videos, Naver blog posts. Up until now, eligible beneficiaries have tried to find welfare information by themselves. Now, however, Subsidy 24 has changed the administrative system by directly providing information on citizens&rsquo; rights regarding assistance and benefits.&nbsp;

In 2022, the Ministry of Health and Welfare plans to provide the entire nation with a welfare membership system, i.e. a customized service that preemptively informs citizens about the welfare services they are eligible to receive by analyzing their individual circumstances. This will eliminate the inconvenience of having to search for and check benefit information one by one, while the economic benefits resulting from the reduction of time and costs spent on visiting institutions or issuing the required documents are estimated to reach KRW 10.9 billion over the next 6 years through Subsidy 24. With the reduction in the working hours of civil servants at community service centers, whose main task is to consult and check applicants&rsquo; eligibility, it is expected that work efficiency will be improved to the value of around KRW 34 billion over six years, by preventing omissions on applications and providing beneficial opportunities in institutions. Subsidy 24 has provided an opportunity to shift administrative services from the point of view of the policy consumers, and this shift is expected to raise the public&rsquo;s satisfaction with and trust in government policies.

Subsidy 24 in Korea

https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/upload/image/2021/12/30/b9ce69ca-abb8-45ba-86a7-f459a3363bf9.jpg

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety of Korea and the Ministry of Science, Innovation, Technology and Telecommunications of Costa Rica signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation for digital government cooperation at a bilateral summit on Nov 23(KST).

Accordingly, the Korean Ministry and its Costa Rican counterpart will jointly pursue the sharing of best practices and experiences in digital government, human exchange and joint research, policy advice and technical support, and the establishment of a committee for collaboration.&nbsp;

Costa Rica plans to actively carry out digital transformation by establishing a dedicated agency for this mandate in the post-COVID era.

In response, the Korean Ministry announced that with the conclusion of the MOU, it would cooperate in ensuring that the Korean form of digital government will be successfully built in Costa Rica by introducing its cases of system implementation and policy status, which take into consideration the digital government project led by the Costa Rican government, as well as holding forums for collaboration and inviting resources to Korea for training.

Jeon Hae-Cheol, Minister of the Interior and Safety, said, &quot;With this signing of the MOU, the Ministry will strengthen cooperation with the government of Costa Rica to actively support Korean companies&#39; exploration of the Costa Rican market, and also make further efforts to share the experience and achievements of the Korean digital government with the international community.&quot;

&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2022/01/12/028d5566-6752-4461-b8c0-2160d84ae8a7.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/23/b9bb6408-e151-4097-a14e-1c8102755292.png" style="width: 100%;" />

Korea and Costa Rica signed on
an MOU on collaboration for digital government

https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/upload/image/2021/12/23/f0335c86-66f7-40c4-ad5b-d5a2fdd15926.png

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety(MOIS, Minister Jeon Hae-cheol) &nbsp;announced Minister Jeon Hae-cheol attended the 8th Digital Nations Ministerial Summit virtually and discussed how to lead sustainability and inclusive innovation of digital government on November 18&nbsp;

Digital Nations is a collaborative forum of the world&rsquo;s leading digital governments. It was established in 2014 with five countries including Korea, the United Kingdom and Estonia as founding members. The membership has now been extended to include 10 nations* after Canada, Denmark and others joined the forum.&nbsp; 
* Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Denmark, Canada, Israel, New Zealand, Uruguay, Portugal, Mexico &nbsp;

This year&rsquo;s Digital Nations Summit was held under the theme of &ldquo;Digital Government in Open Societies: Sustainable, Inclusive and Values-driven Innovation&rdquo; with the United Kingdom as Chair. More than 70 delegates including ministers and high-level officials from 10 member states participated in the Summit to explore the roles of digital government to lead the post COVID-19 recovery and design effective responses to pending social issues.

In the leadup to the Ministerial Summit, the steering committee meeting was held on November 16 and thematic sessions on November 17 virtually as sideline events. &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

At those meetings, member countries shared their national policies and discussed future cooperation in digital-based participatory policymaking, designing life event services, net zero and digital government, accessibility of digital services and inclusiveness, transparency and ethics of Artificial Intelligence, and digital identity.

At the Ministerial Summit on November 18, Minister Jeon &nbsp;presented Korea&rsquo;s Virtual Assistant Service for the Public designed to offer customized public administration information to the people as well as Mobile ID, Public MyData Service and other examples of data-driven public administration services to build a more convenient and secure digital world.

He also introduced digital government innovation of Korea to the global community and discussed future directions with other ministers of the member states.

Korea is a next hosting country of the Digital Nations Summit in 2022 as Chair where ministers from the 10 member states are expected to have face-to-face meetings for the first time after COVID-19.

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/23/24d77016-8864-4f37-906d-e525d5ee5bae.png" style="width: 100%;" />

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/23/077abd23-36e0-4856-801b-60b8dee5624e.png" style="width: 100%;" />

Korea attended the 8th Digital Nations Ministerial Summit under the theme of “Digital Government in Open Societies”

https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/upload/image/2021/12/23/45af4db3-a9e9-48b2-ad7d-b981e96195f5.png

Dr. Taewoo Nam, Professor, Graduate School of Governance, 
Sungkyunkwan University

This brief report describes how the Korean government successfully boosted the rate of coronavirus vaccination reservation in July and August, 2021. Considering the depressed economy situation made by mandatory social distancing, Korea was under pressure of finishing the second shot of vaccination as soon as possible. However, it was a hard work to arrange the vaccination appointments for all adults in a very short period even though the Korean e-government has advanced infrastructures. A key to upgrading vaccination reservation was public-private collaboration on open government, data management, and cloud computing.

This report introduces the details of the collaboration.

&nbsp;

▶ Crisis in Vaccination Reservation

Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) established the coronavirus vaccination booking system (ncvr.kdca.go.kr), along with reservation via 1-3-3-9 call center and visit to a community center. The senior generation was divided into four groups in their age: 60 to 64, 65 to 69, 70 to 74, and 75 and older. Since most of vaccine reservations for the elderly were made through 1-3-3-9 call center and visit in person, the online reservation system worked well. From July, 2021, 50s (7.5 million) were allowed to make an online reservation, which is the only way for vaccination booking. The reservation system was congested with log-in by millions of people, notifying 111 hours as waiting time on the webpage. In the first day of reservation for 50s in their age, the quadrupled number of the expectation tried an access to the system. The server capacity (300,000 bookings per hour) turned out insufficient for the whole number of 50s. Especially, identity verification and search for vaccination institutes suffered from overload.

&nbsp;

▶Improving the Vaccination Reservation System

Ministry of the Interior and Safety, Ministry of Science and ICT, KDCA, National Information Society Agency (NIA), and 18 private corporations (the Korean No. 1 portal site, telecommunication carriers, and cloud computing service providers) established the public-private joint task force in July 22, 2021. This public-private collaboration effort aimed to inspect, modify, and improve the vaccination reservation system. It took merely two weeks for the task force to enable a simultaneous access of 12 million people in 10 minutes.

 
Table 1. What the public-private joint task force did

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/29/415b307f-c323-4cdc-976e-0237b3cad794.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The task force upgraded the vaccination reservation system in three aspects. First, identity verification as the most serious bottle neck point was transferred to private cloud. This transfer decreased loads on the reservation system and speeded up the processing, thereby solving significantly reducing the wait time. Despite congested log-in trials, flexible extensibility of cloud enabled to respond and process a massive number of simultaneous requests. Second, the reservation system diversified identity verification by adding such new simple ways as Naver, Kakao, and PASS that most citizens prefer. Lastly, the system signaled the status (green for good, yellow for delayed, or red for congested) in each mode for identity verification.

 
Figure 1. What changed with private cloud

 
<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/29/1dc8a85b-13be-4655-84c4-548046937325.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

&nbsp;

Figure 2. How the system signaled the status for identity verification&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/29/681559d2-7849-439d-9882-e46738c8e3c7.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

&nbsp;

▶ The Role of Participating Organizations

The contribution of participating organizations is categorized into three roles: identity verification and cloud, reservation processing, and overall management of public agencies.

 
Figure 3. Participating organizations

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/29/164fcdf6-6421-493b-96ed-9f5188b6135e.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

The cloud software developer, Bespin Global, involved in building up infrastructure for private cloud transition of identity verification and webpage for a simple access. For stable operation of the simple access webpage, Naver Cloud provided technologies for optimization of cloud server infrastructure and service. Naver, Kakao, KCB, and three Korean telecommunication carriers maximized the capacity of identity verification service that each company has. Jadecross supported a solution (NetFUNNEL) for real-time monitoring and control of traffics to evade overloads between diversified identity verification services and the vaccination reservation site.

 
Figure 4. Real-time monitoring of each mode for identity verification by NetFUNNEL

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/12/29/546a6525-1b36-43be-9ea1-1366d81fd1cb.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

LG CNS optimized vaccination institute search as an overload factor so that the responding time decreased from 2.58 to 0.004 seconds (30 times improvement in maximum). Korea Oracle, Data Heaven, Vatos, eGlobal System, and SsangYong Information &amp; Communications Corporation gave supports in diagnosis, expansion, optimization, and encryption of the KDCA reservation system database. System Associates, WhaTap, and STC Lab rearranged the reservation system server structure to a &ldquo;dedicated&rdquo; mode that works well in processing large-scale accesses, thereby raising the processing speed from 0.3 million to 1 million cases.

On the other hand, public agencies overall managed improvements in their own area related to online vaccination reservation. NIA led overall improvement in cloud-based verification system. Korea Internet and Security Agency inspected weak points in security and contributed to service stability. Korea Social Security Information Service managed the reservation processing system of KDCA and inspected server and database optimization. Korea Health Information Service and National Health Insurance Service prevented possible errors by operating the professional inspection team.

 
▶ Success Factors of Reservation System Improvement

Two weeks were sufficient for Korea to correct all technical errors made by overloads on the vaccination reservation system. Usually this kind of system development and improvement requires more than two months, but public agencies and private corporations made joint efforts to solve or at least soothe the most important, imminent, and wicked problem.

A retrospective view may consider various success factors. An agile cross-sectoral organization was pivotal to a fast response to the system-driven error correction. The temporary task force was efficient as well as effective in optimally designating relevant roles to totally 24 institutes. For the future, the Korean government plans to enhance the sustainability of an agile organization based on public-private collaboration.

If this present effort is not enough to explain the success, other success factors could be found in the history of Korean informatization. Korea implemented such a national-scale big project named &ldquo;Computerization of resident registration&rdquo; between 1988 and 1992. Since this project, the citizen registration number has helped identify each citizen. The data based on the citizen registration number facilitates identity verification in the Internet age.

More recently, the Act on Promotion of the Provision and Use of Public Data has been enforced since 2013. By this act, any citizen and private organization has access to and use right of the data that public sector organizations own and manage. The public-private collaboration on improving the vaccination reservation system is also based on public data openness. Moreover, the Digital Signature Act was revised in June 2020. The revision supports digital signature of private entities in government services such as HomeTax (digital front desk of Korean Taxation, www.hometax.go.kr) and Government 24 (portal of online certificate issuance services, www.gov.kr). This revised act helped the vaccination reservation system to use identity verification of private entities.

Last but not least, data sovereignty is a new issue that emerges in struggling the coronavirus pandemic. ICT service corporations in Korea have competed with global dinosaurs such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. These Korean platform companies have their own knowhow in using their data and drawing insights from the data. Besides, the Korean ICT companies with a high level of global competitive power have played a crucial role as a partner of government to collaboratively solve public problems.

How Korea improved the COVID-19 Vaccine Reservation System in 2 weeks

https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/upload/image/2021/10/22/881d8efb-1fc1-456b-855a-b36fdee0cfc2.jpg

On July 8 (KST), the Republic of Korea&rsquo;s Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Kingdom of Cambodia&rsquo;s Ministry of Post and Telecommunications signed an MOU for the establishment of the Korea&ndash;Cambodia Digital Government Cooperation Center.

Following up on the agreement to expand cooperation in digital government development efforts at the 2019 ASEAN&ndash;Republic of Korea Commemorative Summit, the Korean and Cambodian governments jointly developed the Cambodian Digital Government Masterplan in 2020.

The Korea&ndash;Cambodia Digital Government Cooperation Center will operate in Phnom Penh, Cambodia&rsquo;s capital, from 2021 to 2023 as stipulated in the MOU to support digital government development efforts based on the Masterplan.

&nbsp;

<img alt="" src="https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/ckeditor/images/2021/07/16/deb2bbd1-438d-4964-9888-1d7cbe1c2357.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />

Korea and Cambodia agree to establish
a digital government cooperation center in Phnom Penh

https://ssproxy.ucloudbiz.olleh.com/v1/AUTH_43bef30e-e040-499e-86d0-70552f8bf804/CDNStorage/upload/image/2021/07/16/634f185c-298e-42ed-a268-1ee23787c102.JPG

loading

Digital Government Blog

Promotion of Win-Win Strategy between Related Institutions Using MyData in the public sector in Korea

Digital Identification in Korea

Development of Model for Automatic Identification of Relevant Departments in Korea

Subsidy 24 in Korea

Korea and Costa Rica signed on an MOU on collaboration for digital government

Korea attended the 8th Digital Nations Ministerial Summit under the theme of “Digital Government in Open Societies”

How Korea improved the COVID-19 Vaccine Reservation System in 2 weeks

Korea and Cambodia agree to establish a digital government cooperation center in Phnom Penh

loading

Digital Government Blog

Topics

Promotion of Win-Win Strategy between Related Institutions Using MyData in the public sector in Korea

Digital Identification in Korea

Development of Model for Automatic Identification of Relevant Departments in Korea

Subsidy 24 in Korea

Korea and Costa Rica signed on an MOU on collaboration for digital government

Korea attended the 8th Digital Nations Ministerial Summit under the theme of “Digital Government in Open Societies”

How Korea improved the COVID-19 Vaccine Reservation System in 2 weeks

Korea and Cambodia agree to establish a digital government cooperation center in Phnom Penh

UNDERCONSTRUCTION

UNDER
CONSTRUCTION