World Bank officials discuss using Korea’s national digital ID as a model

Officials of the state-owned Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corporation (KOMSCO) and those of a World Bank delegation recently held talks on how to foster collaboration on the implementation of digital ID elsewhere based on Korea’s system.

The Korea Times, in a report, indicates that the partnership is in line with the World Bank’s support of initiatives for developing countries working to establish digital public infrastructure projects as a way of streamlining how people get access to vital public and private sector services.

Discussions during the meeting touched on Korea’s mobile ID (K-DID) ecosystem, which is triggering interest from countries in Southeast Asia including the Philippines and Indonesia and Latin America such as Costa Rica, says Lim Do-hyun, ICT executive at KOMSCO – the agency charged with the responsibility to oversee implementation of the blockchain-based decentralized mobile ID project.

As part of the K-DID project, the Korean government plans to issue national digital ID cards to all citizens above 17 from next year.

Already, a mobile public officer ID and mobile driver’s licenses (mDLs) have been issued within the framework of the project, with considerable attention paid to user experience and data protection, The Korea Times mentions.

The Philippines, in addition to taking inspiration from Korea’s digital ID system, has turned to open-source software from MOSIP for the rollout of its national ID.

Indonesia to integrate all public services by May

Indonesia is already well down the path of digital transformation, and is accelerating measures aimed at digitizing its public services.

In this regard, Indonesian President Joko Widodo has directed that all government agencies integrate their service apps with a principal government platform called INA Digital no later than May 2024, Gov Insider reports.

Abdullah Azwar Anas, Minister of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucratic Reform, says the integration will happen via an API system, adding that various government institutions have been holding technical meetings to sort out details of the integration process.

Services will be integrated in nine priority areas and access to these services will be through a single sign-on system. The integration process is meant to enable interoperability, the minister explains.

Article Topics

digital government  |  digital identity  |  digital public infrastructure  |  KOMSCO  |  South Korea  |  World Bank