This file photo provided by KT Corp. shows a prototype of a mobile driver’s license to be used in South Korea.
SEOUL, July 28 (Korea Bizwire) — Beginning next year, South Koreans will be able to conveniently confirm their identities through smartphones, thanks to the planned introduction of an ID card mobile verification service, the government said Wednesday.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety said it will build the resident registration card mobile verification service during the first half of next year to allow people to confirm their identities through smartphones without presenting their physical ID cards.
In the new service, people who do not carry their resident registration cards can have their identities verified simply by showing key information of their ID cards, including name, resident registration number, address and the card issuing agency, through a smartphone.
The ministry said people can conveniently use the service after a simple registration with a smartphone app run by the government, without having their mobile ID card issued.
There will be no risk of personal information leak because real-time encrypted information is transmitted from the resident registration system, it said, adding the service can be used after going through an identity verification process at Government 24, an administrative service app.
The ministry explained that the mobile ID verification service could be particularly useful in cases of submission of civil affairs documents, drinking age check at convenience stores and restaurants, ID verification for aircraft or ship boarding and ID confirmation in private contracts or transactions.
(Yonhap)
