Self Analysis
Korea ranked first in UN e-government ratings in 2014, and has undertaken its own SWOT analysis, a planning method used to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats involved in a project or a business venture, to achieve remarkable growth once again.
According to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security on July 13, the UN E-Government Survey 2014 details the background and its implications for the ability of Korea's e-government system to rank first three times in a row for six consecutive years. The report is released every two years and assesses the e-government development status of the 193 UN member states.
The UN E-Government Survey has two categories: the E–Participation Index and E–Government Development Index (the availability of online services, telecommunication infrastructure, and human capacity).
Korea and the Netherlands maintained the top spot in this year's e-participation rankings. It means that the nation's e-government system is widely used in real life. Korea's ranking in telecommunication infrastructure edged up by five places from 7th to 2nd, thanks to the addition of a new index measuring the number of wireless Internet subscribers.
However, in terms of online service delivery, Korea's ranking went down by two notches to 3rd place, due to the addition of six areas. Korea ranked 6th in human capacity as it did in 2012, following New Zealand, Australia, Ireland, the U.S., and Norway. The average years of schooling of children are included in the rankings.
This year's online service index reflected six new areas, including whole-of-government approach, open government data, e-infrastructure and its increasing role in bridging the digital divide, and multichannel service delivery.
Korea topped the biennial rankings three times in a row, but the nation is followed closely by other countries. Australia, Singapore, and Japan saw a huge increase in rankings. Australia climbed ten spots to Number 2, while Singapore moved up seven spots to 3rd. Japan's ranking rose twelve places from 18th to 6th.
Experts point out that continued interest in the meaning of the top position in the UN e-government ratings are most important. Using the fact that the country's e-government index is twice as high as that of Southeast Asian nations on average, it is necessary to maintain the leadership position in exporting e-government systems to developing countries.