Credit Card-based Personal Identification to Be Initiated in Korea

Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Song Hee-kyung tabled an amendment to the Use and Protection of Credit Information Act on July 17 so that a credit card can replace a resident registration number during personal identification for mobile phone service subscription.

This is expected to facilitate service subscription by foreigners residing in South Korea and those planning to use mobile phone services provided by mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) because this method does not require a public certificate for service subscription.

At present, resident registration numbers cannot be collected online and public certificates, Internet personal identification numbers (i-PINs), and mobile phones are in use as means for personal identification for financial transactions, public services, etc. Many have pointed out that these are rather inconvenient and there should be alternatives.

Under the circumstances, the Korea Communications Commission tested a credit card-based personal identification service in March this year and is planning to officially launch it next month. With this service, personal identification can be carried out based on nothing but a credit card number and a password.

According to current law, credit card-based personal identification can be provided only by those authorized by both the Korea Communications Commission and the Financial Services Commission. The bill tabled by the lawmaker is to allow identification service providers designated in accordance with the act to be exempted from the authorization by the Financial Services Commission on condition that the two commissions agree to do so.