The introduction of technology has been critical to transforming the way Korea’s public sector operates, says Jung-Hyub Kang, the country’s most senior information officer.
There are known unknowns, and unknown unknowns; things we don’t know, and things we don’t know that we don’t know. Korean e-government has successfully negotiated the former – over the last 20 years rolling out full informatisation across central government, and achieving consistent recognition from the United Nations and other bodies for the excellence of the country’s e-government delivery.
Jung-Hyub Kang is Assistant Minister, Information Strategy Office at the Ministry of Public Administration & Security (MOPAS), a role that is equivalent to GCIO. He says that the next step will be to take a series of leaps into the dark: putting in place a greener, environmentally sustainable approach to running the machinery of government; moving toward a broader engagement with the wants and needs of citizens; and perhaps most transformational of all, making the enabling power of government ever present in citizens’ lives.