The new voting system will be used on a trial basis from next year when the government will allow local citizens to vote on its major policies. The plan is part of government efforts to put all state agencies online to create "e-government," which would link people to government services and data via the Internet.
To promote political participation, the government will set up an online information center by 2005 where people can get easy access to all public government information.
It will also try to handle up to 85 percent of civil affairs administration online from the current 15 percent.
By next year, a one-stop service will be also available on the Web to help people establish and manage their companies.
The government will also create a national distribution information network by 2007 to keep track of imports and exports, customs, and rail and land transport.
To increase its efficiency and reduce costs, the government will digitize all of its paperwork by 2005 and create a database of major public documents by 2006.
Korea's swing for the e-government began in the mid 1980s when the initiative for the "National Basic Information System" was first put into place. Under the project, the nation's basic administrative information, such as resident registration, real estate and automobiles, was compiled into government database systems.
The country ranks first among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development members with nearly 10 out of every 14 households connected to high-speed Internet.
Well known as the country with the highest degree of Internet usage, Korea has given birth to a generation of Internet users who now exceed 25.6 million out of its total 48-million population. The number of users has rapidly increased since 1998, when the comparable figure barely scratched 3.1 million.
Quelle: The Korea Herald
