BUSAN, South Korea, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- A national identification (NID) card can be verified with one simple scanning. Any ominous symptom of physical health for patients can be reported real-time to doctors.
Such "smart" public services, offered by the South Korean government, were on display on the sidelines of the two-day Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Republic of Korea (ROK) Commemorative Summit that opened Monday in the South Korean southern port city of Busan. The ROK refers to South Korea's official name.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety put on view a device that can verify the NID card with one scanning. It was developed by the Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp. (KOMSCO) to prevent the illegal use of NID card against forgery and falsification.
The NID card is used here for identification in public service agencies, financial institutions and private companies without any submission of other documents. The verification device helps people receive public services more easily with a simplified identification process.
The ministry also exhibited a kiosk issuing a special transportation card for tourists. In front of the machine, tourists can take a picture and put the photo printed in the transportation card, which provides information on tourist sites of the country through QR code.
Digitalized public services were also applied to the healthcare system. The Ministry of Health and Welfare released a mobile app that can transmit detailed medical information of users such as the number of strides, the duration of exercise, heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose level and so on to doctors. Ordinary people can receive customized health consultation from experts based on the medical information that is transmitted using the app and wearing a digital wristwatch.
According to the ministry, almost 60 percent of people displayed health improvement after using the service. The device can be beneficial especially to the elderly population living on islands and in remote mountain villages who have difficulty seeing a doctor.
The smart technologies are also being used to prevent crimes. The National Forensic Service launched a forged passport detection system and a face recognition system as well as a fake banknote identification system.
The National Election Commission adopted an information and communication technology (ICT)-based voting and counting system, while the Ministry of Education was seeking a smart classroom through digital textbook and other digitalized school activities.
