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Gangnam District, South Korea Sets International Digital Example

Gangnam has set a digital sxample for South Korea as a whole. The e-Government applications developed by the District have been adopted by the central government, while its online systems and kiosks have been replicated by almost all municipalities in the country.

Even just a year ago, it made little difference to Kim Youngja, a 75-year old solitary resident of the Gangnam-gu District in Seoul, South Korea, that her country was one of the most wired in the world. Or, for that matter, that many of the government services in her district were just a click away. Kim Youngja has hardly used computers in her life and she was not keen on taking it up either at this late stage of her life.

But today, Kim Youngja's lack of computer proficiency doesn't stop her from deriving the benefits of the 35 odd e-Government services Gangnam administration offers. She now accesses all those services just by switching on her TV, thanks to an innovative concept called TV e-Government that the Gangnam administration introduced last year. It is reportedly the world's first e-Government service that provides various administrative services through cable TV based on the duplex digital broadcasting technology.

According to Gangnam District officials, its TV e-Government enables everyone receive various administrative services across 13 areas including issuing civil documents, paying tax, watching educations TV (SAT lectures), receiving civil defense training, taking surveys and the like, over just a TV -- a highly familiar media even for the digitally uninitiated.

The TV e-Government System is just one of the many innovations of the Gangnam-gu District that make it one of the most digitally savvy administrations of the world. Its other cutting edge e-Government applications include the recently introduced Social Safety Network System for the Solitary Elderly, that prevents the lonely death of the solitary elderly, and the U-Safe Service, which spots the positions of the old and the weak including children, women and dementia patients at any point for meeting emergencies.

And clearly, it is no surprise then that District that lies to the south of the Han River, which snakes through South Korea's capital city from east to west, has emerged as an ideal case study for all e-Government efforts around the world. Over the past three years the District has also beaten many other administrations in grabbing the Intelligent Community of the Year, instituted by the New York-based Intelligent Community Forum (ICF).

The most significant feature of the Gangnam's e-Government efforts is "the persistence with which this District has pursued the building of its intelligent community year after year," says Robert Bell, executive director ICF, a think tank that focuses on job creation and economic development in the broadband economy.

In a way Gangnam invented e-Government. The District's genesis as an Intelligent Community actually goes back even before the web when it launched its first "electronic government" project in 1995 by setting up a series of kiosks connected electronically. "Back then," says Kyung-Ah Lee, member of the Computerization & Information Division of the Gangnam District Office, "the most common method of connection was 9.6K or 24K modem and the Internet was not the most used online feature although online services such as HiTel and Cheollian, which were equivalent to the AOL with their own various services and contents, were popular."

That helped Gangnam to create a local area network wide enough to connect government offices and a set of tax payment and other applications running on public kiosks in just two years. By 1999, the system could also process all registrations, permits and other citizen applications electronically.

But what really helped Gangnam leap ahead in its e-Government effort was a change in South Korea's political system. In 1995, the country introduced the first ever the system of autonomous and self-governing municipalities -- before which, local mayors and provincial governors were only appointed by the central government -- and Gangnam could chose its mayor who displayed "a strong leadership and determination to declare the beginning of the e-Government Initiative."

Gangnam converted the system to the Web in 2002. And by 2006, as

the country experienced a broadband miracle with private wireline and wireless carriers broadband networks reaching some 14 million South Koreans enjoying the fastest speeds in the world -- 100 Mbps -- Gangnam was quick to seize the broadband opportunity. From then on the District introduced a series of cutting edge e-Government services that according to Louis A. Zacharilla, co-founder, Intelligent Community Forum, transformed Gangnam into a "knowledge society of marvelous dimensions."


Today, says Kyung-Ah Lee, services like Internet Civil Documents Issuing System, Automated Civil Documents Issuing System, and Internet Tax Payment System have made it possible for each and every of the district's 557,000 residents "save a significant amount of time, money and effort as well as lead a considerably improved life."

As well, Gangnam has also set an example for the country as a whole. The e-Government applications developed by the District have been adopted by the central government, while its online systems and kiosks have been replicated by "almost all municipalities" in South Korea. "Gangnam District's computerization has not only affected the residents of Gangnam but also all Koreans," says Kyung-Ah Lee.

All this however, haven't come cheap. As per latest figures, Gangnam has spent 55 billion won (about US$ 50 million) from 1995 through 2007 to create this IT infrastructure all of which has been state-funded.

Nevertheless, the rewards have been as huge. Besides the numerous accolades that Gangnam has received from international organizations like World Bank and United Nation's, Gangnam's e-Government system has catapulted this district into one of the most prosperous districts in South Korea. Although Gangnam has just 2.5% of Seoul's populations it commands 25% of the Capital's gross domestic product.
Internally, the Gangnam District Office has reduced the number of its employees from 2,041 in 1995 to 1,307 currently, saving $36.7 million annually. The citizen's satisfaction rating has increased from 75% in 2000 to 92% in 2004.

Furthermore, by outsourcing the construction of the information network infrastructure and the development of various applications to local private IT firms, Gangnam District's e-Government initiative has contributed approximately $54 million of investments in the local economy.

In addition, the financial benefits that have accrued to Gangnam residents include savings in opportunity costs from not having to visit government offices or banks estimated at $ 27.5 million annually. In terms of intangibles "residents are also collectively saving approximately $200 million in private education costs by using the Internet College Admissions Examination Broadcasting service."

According to ICF chairman John Jung, "Through incredible dedication to improving their economy and the lives of their citizens, Gangnam has consistently demonstrated its commitment to building a sustainable broadband economy", and that effort is not about to slacken anytime soon.

Going forward, Gangnam District is crafting a new comprehensive roadmap this year of what it calls "informatization," which aims at realizing the country's famous U-City concept. U-City stands for Ubiquitous City, where technology is utilized in administrative services in such a way that it touches every aspect (hence ubiquitous) of the citizens "to increase their well being and happiness".

The general direction of the plan involves advancing the e-Government services, increasing the efficiency of the information network, building the foundation of a U-City, and marketing the e-Government system.

"Gangnam-gu is a district on the move," says Maeng Jung Ju, the publicly elected Mayor who has been the brain behind the Districts remarkable e-Government efforts. And as it continues to plan for an "exciting and productive future", perhaps the greatest reward that it has ever received is the recognition that whoever lives in or visits Gangnam-gu, agrees that it "is a great place to live, work, and play."

Indrajit Basu is the international correspondent for Government Technology's Digital Communities.

Photo by Romain Vignes - Creative CommonsAttribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic