Evolution of Korea's E-Government

Practical progress in E-Government has been framed as a five-stage model of development: one-way communication, interactive, transaction, integration, and the seamless stage. The initial stage describes a relatively underdeveloped environment in which the maturity level of e-government is low. In this stage, basic web presence allows the government to provide public information to citizens and related stakeholders. The interactive stage extends one-way information provision including email and other communication between public administrators and citizens, government officers, nonprofit organizations, businesses and others. The transaction stage allows citizens and organizations to undertake online financial transactions such as tax or fee payments or service transactions. The integration stage is characterized by combinations and linkages among various e-government systems vertically across levels of government and horizontally across units of government. This stage promotes collaboration and coordination for efficient and effective operation and service delivery. The seamless stage describes a fully integrated and interoperable information and communication system of E-Government (Figure 2)

The name On-Nara is meaningful. “On” means “under operation” in English or “whole” in Korean. “Nara” means nation in Korean. The On-Nara system is designed to keep the entire nation under full operation.

As a statutory agency, it is established to provide technical expertise and implement information policies. It highlights the following missions:
1) Providing expertise in developing and implementing the National Framework Plan on Informatization Promotion
2) Managing and operating information networks of public organizations
3) Supporting and developing information communication standardization
4) Maintaining information systems for inter-agency information sharing
5) Supporting information resource management in the public sector
6) Supporting supervision, standardization and evaluation of public informatization businesses
7) Providing IT consulting services to developing nations

Source:Special Committee for E-Government 2003, 59. Recited from Kim and Choi(2016). P.24

There are three different models in developing and constructing infrastructure:
(1) The Private Sector–Driven Model
(2) The Cooperative Model
(3) The Government-Driven Model (Lallana, 2004).
The private sector-driven model basically relies on the private sector to build information infrastructure with minimal involvement of government. This model is found in Switzerland and New Zealand in their broadband infrastructure development. The government’s role is often limited to the formation and operation of the regulatory framework and related institutional arrangements to ensure market competition and private actors’ activities. The cooperative model allows the private sector to take the leading role, while the government takes responsibility for rural and remote areas as well as public-purpose applications. This model has been adopted by the United Kingdom and the United States for broadband infrastructure development.

Based on the Framework Act of National Informatization of 1995, the Korean government established the National Informatization Promotion Fund to support activities aimed at the establishment of the ICT industry, ICT infrastructure, E-Government, and research and development. The fund was used to implement the Master Plan for Informatization Promotion (1996) and Cyber Korea 21 (1999). The fund was established with contributions from the government (about 40%), private telecommunication companies (45%), and private interests and other miscellaneous sources (14%). The fund succeeded the National Informatization Support Fund (1993–1995), which was established based on the Act of ICT Research and Development. The National Informatization Promotion Fund contributed greatly to the establishment of initial infrastructure and the ICT business environment as well as to ICT research and development. Unlike the annually appropriated budget, the government was able to use the fund for national informatization projects more flexibly and strategically. For example, the government spent US$5.33 billion between 1994 and 2003 for ICT research and development (38%), informatization promotion (20%), ICT human resources development (18%), broadband infrastructure and promotion (15.1%), and infrastructure for the ICT industry (7%) and standardization (3%) (Suh and Chen, 2007). The fund played a critical role in the initial establishment of Korean informatization projects in the 1990s and 2000s, when ICT projects were driven by the government.

The fund enabled the government to finance initial ICT-related projects flexibly and preemptively in the 1990s and 2000s. Using the fund, for example, the Korean government established basic infrastructure such as the Internet Super Highway (155M~5Gbps), the Education Internet Connection Project for 10,400 primary and secondary schools, E-Government projects, etc. The fund also supported the establishment of the ICT business environment and initial start-ups for ICT venture capitals. Upon the establishment and usage of the fund, the growth rate of ICT contribution to GDP increased from 8.6% in 1997 to 12.9% in 2001. In addition, the fund stimulated ICT research and development projects. Using 1.6 billion Korean won, Korea developed ATM and succeeded with the commercialization of CDMA for the first time in the world. The fund also helped train and educate ICT human resources. In the initial period (1997–2001), 0.7 billion Korean won was spent to train and educate 749,493 ICT personnel, including 15,598 master’s degree or doctoral degree holders.

Despite the fund’s major contributions to national informatization projects, the Korean government nonetheless faced a number of challenges and issues in the course of operating the fund. While the fund allowed the Korean government to support the targeted ICT industry and ICT capacity-building projects with financial flexibility and without government budget constraints, the government was continually criticized for inefficient and misuse of the fund.
The fund was established with contributions from the government (about 40%), private telecommunication companies (45%), and private interests and other miscellaneous sources (15%).The government spent US$5.33 billion between 1994 and 2003 for ICT research and development (38%), informatization promotion (20%), ICT human resource development (18%), broadband infrastructure and promotion (15%), and infrastructure for the ICT industry (7%) and standardization (3%).

Based on the Framework Act of National Informatization of 1995, the Korean government established the National Informatization Promotion Fund to support activities aimed at the establishment of the ICT industry, ICT infrastructure, E-Government, and research and development. The fund was used to implement the Master Plan for Informatization Promotion (1996) and Cyber Korea 21 (1999). The fund was established with contributions from the government (about 40%), private telecommunication companies (45%), and private interests and other miscellaneous sources (14%). The fund succeeded the National Informatization Support Fund (1993–1995), which was established based on the Act of ICT Research and Development. The National Informatization Promotion Fund contributed greatly to the establishment of initial infrastructure and the ICT business environment as well as to ICT research and development. Unlike the annually appropriated budget, the government was able to use the fund for national informatization projects more flexibly and strategically. For example, the government spent US$5.33 billion between 1994 and 2003 for ICT research and development (38%), informatization promotion (20%), ICT human resources development (18%), broadband infrastructure and promotion (15.1%), and infrastructure for the ICT industry (7%) and standardization (3%) (Suh and Chen, 2007). The fund played a critical role in the initial establishment of Korean informatization projects in the 1990s and 2000s, when ICT projects were driven by the government.

The fund enabled the government to finance initial ICT-related projects flexibly and preemptively in the 1990s and 2000s. Using the fund, for example, the Korean government established basic infrastructure such as the Internet Super Highway (155M~5Gbps), the Education Internet Connection Project for 10,400 primary and secondary schools, E-Government projects, etc. The fund also supported the establishment of the ICT business environment and initial start-ups for ICT venture capitals. Upon the establishment and usage of the fund, the growth rate of ICT contribution to GDP increased from 8.6% in 1997 to 12.9% in 2001. In addition, the fund stimulated ICT research and development projects. Using 1.6 billion Korean won, Korea developed ATM and succeeded with the commercialization of CDMA for the first time in the world. The fund also helped train and educate ICT human resources. In the initial period (1997–2001), 0.7 billion Korean won was spent to train and educate 749,493 ICT personnel, including 15,598 master’s degree or doctoral degree holders.

Despite the fund’s major contributions to national informatization projects, the Korean government nonetheless faced a number of challenges and issues in the course of operating the fund. While the fund allowed the Korean government to support the targeted ICT industry and ICT capacity-building projects with financial flexibility and without government budget constraints, the government was continually criticized for inefficient and misuse of the fund.