South Korea will put forward the adoption of mobile driving license a year earlier than the government’s initial plan as demand for contactless services has grown sharply in the era of coronavirus.

According to measures announced by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on Tuesday, the government will start to issue a mobile driving license that will be stored in a personal smartphone to be used as identification before the end of 2021.

The government initially planned to adopt mobile driving license system as identification proof starting 2022 as part of its broad digitization initiative. But amid growing demand for contactless services in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, the government has moved up the date for its adoption to the end of next year.

This new digital driving license is different from the driving license confirmation service for personal verification that is currently offered by three major mobile carriers in Korea – SK Telecom, KT, and LG Uplus. An encoded driving license number will be directly issued to a personal smartphone to replace current a plastic driving license card, according to the ministry. The new digital driving license will be unlocked for view only via biometric verification.

The government also plans to issue other ID cards including disability registration cards and civil servant ID cards in digital form, hoping that such new digital ID solutions can speed up the adoption of overall contactless services and more tailored public services amid growing demand for non-face-to-face services in the post COVID-19 era.

Under its digitization initiative, the government will also introduce My Data service this year, which will allow citizens to directly manage personal information that has been spread throughout many public institutions. It will establish public sector My Data and allow citizens to search and manage their own information. My Data service will also be in use in finance and medical sector starting next year.

By Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]