Interior Minister Jeon Hae-cheol (C), along with National Police Agency chief Kim Chang-ryong (L) and would-be collegian Bang Jin-sol, shows his mobile driver’s license during a ceremony at a driver’s license test course in Seoul on Jan. 27, 2022, to launch the operation of mobile driver’s licenses as part of efforts to help people verify their identities more conveniently. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — New mobile driver’s licenses, which launched via a trial service last month, are attracting a massive number of people, prompting the police to make improvements.
The National Police Agency reported that a total of 16,940 people, or 1,200 people daily between Jan. 27 and this Monday had signed up for a mobile driver’s license.
Mobile driver’s licenses are issued to the driver’s smartphone and can be used just like other driver’s licenses.
Seoul Seobu Driver’s License Test Center and Daejeon Driver’s License Test Center are issuing mobile driver’s licenses until the end of June.
The soaring number of applicants has largely been attributed to high initial demand, followed by the vacation season during which new demand for license acquisition emerges, the police explained.
Among the types of mobile driver’s licenses, an IC driver’s license takes 10 to 12 minutes to be issued, longer than the three to four minutes taken to issue an ordinary driver’s license.
Seoul, in particular, received an average of 821 applications for mobile driver’s licenses each day, exceeding expectations by more than twofold, delaying the license issuing process.
The police deployed additional employees last week to process more online and offline applications.
“People had to wait four hours at most to get their mobile driver’s licenses. Since Tuesday, the time has been reduced to less than an hour,” an official at the National Police Agency said.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
