Digital Governance - Open Data - Asia and the Pacific

Open Data to Improve Transparency and Drive Growth

Republic of Korea / March 13, 2023

Credit: Unsplash

SUMMARY

Every three years, the Republic of Korea releases the Open Government Data Master Plan to shift the paradigm from quantitative to qualitative data. Through open gov data, the government is solving social problems and building a foundation for economic growth in the IT and digital sectors.

Data is a foundation for driving the economic growth of new industries and contributing to solving social problems. It is very important for the government to know the exact datasets that citizens and businesses want, since they are driving economic growth and are the main users of data. In the Republic of Korea, we’ve been working to mainstream this idea into our legal framework and policies about open data.

Since the enforcement of the Open Data Law (2013), the Korean government has released Open Government Data Master Plans every three years to shift the paradigm from releasing quantitative to qualitative data that reflects actual data demand from citizens and businesses.

Along with the Open Government Data Master Plan, the Korean government has also announced a National Core Data Release Plan. The plan aims to solve social problems and create a foundation for economic growth in the IT and digital sectors through the use of open government data, by identifying and releasing economic data that citizens want.

To identify and select data to be released as National Core Data, the government obtains feedback from the Open Data Forum and performs demand surveys of citizens and businesses. Then, the National Core Data projects are selected by the Open Data Strategy Council, a body under the prime minister established to monitor the government’s major open government data policies, plans, and implementation. The council consists of representatives of civil society, academia, businesses, and representatives of the government. As a multi-stakeholder process that brings together voices across society, the selection of National Core Data topics embodies a key principle of OGP: for government policies to be representative of public needs, the process of making those policies must be as inclusive as possible.

In 2016, we released open government data in 33 areas, including food and pharmaceuticals, real estate transactions, and public procurement. In 2017, we released 15 datasets, including artificial intelligence (AI) and job information, bringing the total number of datasets released to 48. Now, the public can easily access and use applications developed by the private sector that provides real estate and comprehensive job information on their mobile devices.

It has also benefited the country’s economy by helping build the capacity to create new industries driven by open data that are related to AI and autonomous vehicles. In addition, 911 emergency data (like emergency patient status information and ambulance vehicle information) and fire data (fire occurrence status by city and province) have also been released through this program.

By 2021, 147 areas of National Core Data were released to the national data portal. Reflecting social issues and urgency, we released data related to COVID-19 in 2021. This included COVID-related drug clinical trial information, including clinical trial plan selection and exclusion criteria, and clinical trial plan test manager information.

In 2022, datasets on occupational disease determination, industrial accident review decision information, integrated state subsidies, and resident registration data will be released as National Core Data to the portal.

Encouraged by this successful implementation, the government is developing the fourth National Core Data Release Plan for 2023 to 2025.

ABOUT THIS STORY
COUNTRY / LOCALITY
Republic of Korea
CONTENT TYPE
Story
SOURCE
Government
DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE
Complete
FOCUS LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT
National

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