Korea claimed first spot in last year’s UN e-Government Survey. Through continuous research and improvement, Korea’s e-Government is enhancing its own reputation and positioning itself as a global benchmark.
Electronic governance in Korea began in 1978 with the basic plan of computerizing public administration. The Information Service Network Plan for Korean Government Offices was laun-ched in the 1980s, with the Framework Act on Informatization Promotion enacted in the mid-1990s in order to speed up the development. What began with the simple intention of employing digital technology in national administration is transforming into a whole new regime covering Web 2.0, smart innovation, social media and cloud computing.
Participation-driven Benchmark Model for all Digital Governments
For Korea, the rapid development of its e-government is definitely something to brag about. In 2010, the United Nations ranked the digital government systems of its 192 member countries and put Korea on top. In May this year, its Information Network Village Project was presented with the prestigious UN Public Service Award. Seoul City, in the meantime, is continuing its winning streak in the e-government evaluation of major cities around the world.
I believe these remarkable accomplishments are the combination of the government’s strong initiative, a well-developed information communication infrastructure and the public’s active participation, said Richard Kerby, Senior Inter-regional Adviser at UNDESA.
The high level of public participation in e-government is backed up by statistical data released by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS) on October 26. According to the results, overall e-government service usage in Korea is higher than the average of 27 OECD member countries at 81%. The usage rate of domestic enterprises increa-sed 2.4 % from a year ago to reach 84.5%, while companies investing in information technologies showed a 2.8% growth, climbing to 58.1%.
The figures show that domestic businesses are making more and better use of digital information, said Jang Gwang-su, head of the Informatization Strategy Office at the ministry. He added, We are planning to focus more on new services like cloud computing and remote working in order to make our survey more accurate and down-to-earth. For this purpose, MOPAS announced a cloud-based, inter-ministerial IT governance action plan on June 27.
e-Government Exports to Soon Surpass US$200 Million
Korea’s digital government system is also enjoying popularity overseas. Up until the first half of 2011, it had been exported to 24 nations, recording a revenue of US$451.2 million. Having the merit of time-saving Internet-based bidding, the e-procurement system of the Public Pro-curement Service has been purchased by Vietnam, Costa Rica, Mongolia and Tunisia at a combined cost of US$20.06 million, while some 12 further countries, including Iran and Jamaica, are considering introducing it. Likewise, the Korea Customs Service’s UNI-PASS system has found its way into countries including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Guatemala. The online customs clearance system, which is designed to eliminate the need for paper documents, posted US$62.12 million in exports until 2010. The Korean government is currently planning to increase exports in order to meet the target of US$200 million ahead of schedule.
Also well underway are bilateral cooperation projects regarding government informatization. MOPAS signed an MOU with the Ministry of Public Administration and Innovation of Italy on September 28, before discussing mutual collaboration with the Turkish Interior Ministry two days later. G7 member Italy and fast-emerging Turkey are showing keen interest in Korea’s e-government because of the excellence of the system above anything else, said the ministry. The government, for its part, is striving to redouble the system’s brand power by expanding its outreach and helping nations adopt it.
What Should Be Done to Keep the Glory Going?
There is no doubt that Korea’s e-government system is the finest in the world. Still, it does not mean that the country can feel smug and make little efforts to improve it. To remain the best, it will have to mirror changes in the roles of government and civil society more precisely, as well as embrace ever-evolving information communications technology. Furthermore, the paradigm shift from online to mobile governance has to be fully grasped, with public and private sectors cooperating to find the right direction for it.
The importance of public participation cannot be overemphasized. e-Government is a systemic means for achieving citizen-centered governance. To make this happen, the digital divide must first be eliminated and access to information guaranteed for everyone. Although the system’s development has been central to the establishment of the e-government framework in Korea, it is now time to concentrate on the human and content aspects.
eGovFrame, Very Foundation of Shared Growth among Software Industry Players
On November 3, MOPAS and the National Information Society Agency (NIA) held a joint information session on Standard Framework 2.0 for Smart e-Government. The session included technical demonstrations of the new version’s major improvements, such as mobile support and customized development environments. It was attended by over 400 government personnel, software companies and individual developers.
The Standard e-Government Fram-ework, or eGovFrame, is an open-source software that MOPAS is developing in tandem with 11 Korean small and large enterprises. The application program development framework is a textbook example of public-private cooperation and shared growth, opened not for large corporations but also small-scale businesses and developers. Since first released in June 2009, it has been adopted in 166 public information projects and by private sectors such as finance and home shopping. Ecuador, Bulgaria, Mongolia, Vietnam, Tunisia and many other nations have imported it.
The second product of the four-year project costing 14 billion won in total is eGovFrame 2.0, which is characterized by mobile compatibility, internal structural optimization and higher levels of user convenience, security and efficiency. The user-customizing development environments unveiled at this time better reflect the opinions of software developers and make the installation and setting much easier. The new version is in compliance with MPOAS’ secure coding policy and meets web standard and accessibility requirements, raising the overall quality and reliability of the e-government system.
With the number of smartphone and tablet PC users skyrocketing, 40 of its mobile-oriented features, including the location-based, multimedia services, etc., were made available in September. Such features have already found their way onto 46 national projects, including that for the popularization of a mobile cash receipt.