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“This is an excellent paper selected among those published in Informatization Policy. Informatization Policy provides the English version ofthis paper in order to promote The achievements and current status of korea’s informatization policies.”
The e-Government of Korea is cited as a major success case in numerous international
economic indexes, and has served as one of the most successful Best Practice models in the
global community. Korea’s IT development status, which lay somewhere between 1/5~1/8 the level of such
advanced nations as the USA and the UK in 1987, has achieved accelerated growth to such an extent that,
since 2007, Korea has been recognized as the world’s leading IT nation. Such an achievement over the past
twenty or so years is believed to be the result of appropriate interactions involving the environment, the
implementation of various government policies (political leadership as well as establishing visions, strategies,
and project priorities), transformations (implementing organizations, financial and technical resources), and
the reflection of feedback and learning experiences.
The e-Government of Korea, which evolved in three stages, was successfully achieved through the
consistent leadership of successive presidents. In addition, the necessary visions and objectives, established
with consideration of efficiency and effectiveness, were appropriately applied and progressed in sync with the
development of back-office, front-office, and e-Government infrastructure in the ever-changing environment
of supply and demand throughout the IT development process. The expansion of mass public services and
transparency in the administrative process as well as the election of the democratic government also
contributed to the advancement of Korea’s e-Government. Such rapid progress was achieved through the
formation of the appropriate implementation organizations, flexible distribution of financial resources of the
Informatization Promotion Fund, and the provision of a technical support network by the Ministry of
Information and Communication (MIC) and the National Information Society Agency (NIA).
Irrespective of these notable achievements, the e-Government of Korea is now confronted with new
challenges that require consideration of changes in demand, an architectural model for the integration of
multi-departmental governmental organizations, policies aimed at inter-agency process innovation and the
fostering of the IT industry, the restructuring of implementation organizations, and the distribution of financial
resources.
Keywords : Success (impact) factors, National Basic Information System Project, High-Speed Broadband Network
Project, Framework Act on Informatization Promotion, Informatization Promotion Fund (Information &
Communication Promotion Fund)
Abstract
Song Hee joon(Ewha Womans University)
E-Government of Korea- Achievements & Tasks -
Informatization Policy
Ⅰ. Introduction
e-Government1) refers to the government’s
efforts to transform both internal and external
governmental relationships through the use of
information technology such as the Internet
(OECD, 2004: 23, UNDESA, 2003: 1-2). The
successful progress of Korea’s e-government
since 1980 is not attributable to a drastic, short-
term measure taken at a certain point in time but
to the accumulated results of long-term,
progressive evolution. In other words, the
success of today’s e-government can be
interpreted as a process of dynamic growth
achieved through countless trials and errors over
a lengthy period of time.
If this is true, then identifying which
approaches the Korean government has taken
and why and how it took them to achieve such
success could be of inestimable value. Despite
the diversity of research (Song Hee-joon, 2002; O
Gang-tak, 2003; O Gwang-seok, 2005; Yun Sang-
o, 2002; Jeong Hong-sik, 2007; Hwang Jong-
seong, 2003; Ministry of Information and
Communication [MIC], 2003; National
Information Society Agency [NIA], 2005)
conducted on the developmental stages of
informationization and the mature level of
Korea’s e-government, detailed descriptions of
the effects of such achievements remain
insufficient.
This study seeks to explain the core success
factors or the impact factors of the success of
Korea’s informatization and e-government
achieved in two decades since the project was
first launched from the cause and effect
perspective. The e-government’s achievements
and the success factors will be explained in
accordance with the horizontal factor flow
(environment, input, transformation, output, and
feedback) as presented in the general system
theory. However, the study has its limitation of
approaching the evolution process of the e-
government from historical description method.
In other words, no scientific analysis methods
such as in depth analysis on specific cases or
statistical analysis on evidential data were
employed to conduct cause and effects
comparison among the success factors.
The study categorizes the development stages
of Korea’s e-government and analyzes the
factors that were applied for establishing visions
and project objectives per each stage, priorities,
leadership, implementation system, financial and
technical resource distribution, feedback, and
learning processes. Such analytical study is
hoped to contribute towards understanding the
cause and effect relationship of the success
factors of Korea’s e-government from historical
point of view.
Ⅱ. Achievements and Impact Factors of
e-Government
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Informatization Policy
1) In this study, the national IT development and e-government shall be mix-used with equal concept. In general, the e-government is the termdescribing the Internet based civil service system or when civil and government interaction commences but since e-government service oradministrative handling is not possible without internally networked database or without IT infrastructure, it is difficult to differentiate theconcept with the IT development.
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E-Government of Korea
1. Output and Achievements of e-Government
Korea’s e-government’s achievements can be
diagnosed by conducting international
comparison with competing nations. When
viewing the international level of IT
development measured in accordance with the
IT index that includes the data on IT facilities, IT
usage, and IT investment to compare the level of
IT development among nations during the ’80s,
Korea (58) prior to the launch of the National
Basic Information System Project in 1986, was
approximately between 1/4 and 1/8 of USA,
Japan, Germany, England, and France (National
Information Society Agency, 1994: 583). The
average annual growth rate of the IT
development between 1986~1992 for Korea was
at 14%, which was similar to those of advanced
nations, which was 11~16%. As shown above,
Korea’s informatization level at the starting stage
was significantly lower than those of advanced
nations and the growth rate, too, was only at
moderate level.
As of 2007, Korea’s informatization or the
nation’s e-government level has surpassed the
advanced nations and has reached the world’s
highest level. The number of high speed
broadband subscribers was at the highest in the
world for 4 years running (OECD, 2005), and
even the ITU Digital Opportunity Index (DOI),
which includes the areas of nationwide
infrastructure, cost of telecommunication
compared to consumption, and high speed
internet ratio was rated number 1 in the world
for 3 consecutive years. Even in the Readiness
Index of the United States and the National IT
Development Index of the National Information
Society Agency,2) Korea is at the forefront
(National Information Society Agency, 2007a). In
addition, the e-Procurement (G3PS) and other
projects pursued in Korea were also recognized
as some of the outstanding models by the
world’s IT community. Such global recognition
may not be the determining factors of Korea’s
2) The NIA selects world’s 50 major countries with consideration to various factors including the region and the national competitiveness fromthe statistics recorded in the ITU’s national information index database, and publishes the raw statistical data for self analysis.
* The numbers are relative comparison with Korea’s IT development in 1990 set to 100.* Source: National Information Society Agency (1994:583), White Paper - National IT Development.
Country 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 Growth Rate
Korea 58 60 69 89 100 109 123 14
USA 442 480 506 604 661 733 856 12
Japan 266 327 383 395 469 558 657 16
Germany 247 281 297 335 423 480 585 16
England 284 322 348 391 478 522 624 14
France 286 319 338 368 437 468 542 11
<Chart 1> National IT Development Index in the late ’80s (Unit: %)
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Informatization Policy
e-government outcomes but it can be utilized as
an important assessment basis.
2. Success Factors of e-Government
The funnel theory (Hofferbert, 1974) among
various policy agenda models of a government is
characterized by very wide entry of historically
designated conditions to narrowing channels of
social economic structure, mass governing shape,
government policy, and elite behaviorism and
therefore, concrete and direct influences such as
the government policies and the habits of the
officials are emphasized to be highly important.
The agenda control theory presents any or all of
the mobilization model, which mobilizes
resources for aggressive administering of policies
by the governing body; the inside access model,
which is the policy lead by certain influential
organization(s) that has the access to the
governing body; and the outside initiative
model, which is the expansion of demand
initiative by civic groups or none governing
organization(s), all in accordance with the
characteristics of the policy issues and
subordinate systems of the policy agendas
(Cobb, Ross and Ross, 1976: 132; Cobb and
Elders, 1983: 151-159).
However, it is difficult to identify an
appropriate model that can explain the agenda
formation and implementation to e-government,
which actively evolves through mutual interaction
among the IT factors and the social factors. The
reason is that the success determining factors
become more complex in both structure and
appearance as the e-government evolves. In
general, the political background, economic and
technical environment, political leadership,
visions and policy objectives (i.e. integration of IT
development and administrative innovation),
strategic priority, implementing body and
the target of implementation, consumer
(approachability, governance participation, and
privacy protection), resource distribution (i.e.
budget, project management, etc.), communal
infrastructure and cooperation (cooperation
Index InstituteKorea’s Rank(# of Countries)
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
DOI ITU 1(40) 1(180) 1(181)
ISI IDC/WT 12(53) 8(53) 10(53) - -
IT Competitiveness EIU - - - - 3(64)
e-Gov. Readiness Index UN 13(191) 5(191) 5(191) - -
Nat’l Competitiveness (Tech Infra) IMD 27(59) 8(60) 2(60) 6(61) 6(55)
Nat’l Competitiveness (IT Index) WEF 11(102) 18(104) 11(117) 14(125) -
Nat’l IT Dev. Index NIA 12(50) 7(50) 3(50) 3(50) 3(50)
<Chart 2> Recent IT Indexes
* Source: Annual report published by each institute
among institutions, responsibility, inspection,
and assessment), and level of IT are presented as
the success factors for e-government (Dawes,
1996; Bannister, 2003; Song, 2002; OECD, 2001,
2002, 2004; US OMB, 2002).
As for the obstacles or failure factors of e-
government, political, financial and technical
environment and the project management risks
are generally presented. Some problems being
pointed out are legal and regulatory obstacles
(individual’s private information, information
security, technology standards, etc), annual
product budget system, information technology
(Legacy System, infrastructure sharing, and
adaptation to new technology), and information
gap (OECD, 2004: 48-65), as well as trend
of automation in work process, lack of federal
architecture, island of automation in
standardization, lack of reliability on privacy
protection and information security, more
institutional process and system operation hour
oriented rather than citizen’s demand and
output oriented rigid budget process, closed
institutional culture, bureaucratic hindrances,
and institutional individualism (US OMB, 2002:
5-12; US FCIOC, 2002: 55). In addition, the
governance issues associated with obtaining
consensus among various organizations, failure
risk associated with pursuing whale sized
projects rather than dolphin sized, risk of taking
on new technology, lack of risk awareness,
weakening leadership and responsibility,
irrespective of changes in business environment,
failing management of human and material
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E-Government of Korea
<Chart 3> Success Determining Factors of e-Government
System Factors Cat. Key Factors
Environment Environment- Political & Social Factors- Economic & Industrial Factors- Technical Factors
Input
Political Leadership - President’s Determination & Leadership
Vision & Strategy, Project Priority
- Vision & Strategy: Government Innovation and Fostering ITIndustry
- Project Priority: Back-Office, Front-Office, and Infrastructure
TransformationImplementation System & Resource Distribution
- Implementation Organization: Cooperative system amongthe committee, managing governmental agency, andinstitutions
- Technical Resource Distribution: Information Technologyand Supporting Network
- Financial Resource Distribution: Budget, Funds, etc.
Output Output & Achievements- International Level- Final Output
Feedback Feedback & Learning- Feedback: Efforts to improve on already developed system- Learning: Reflect on future plans
resources, and ignorance of end users were also
noted as major failure factors of e-government
(OECD, 2001).
There also exists self assessment of the success
factor of Korea’s e-government. Establishment of
effective implementation system, inducing private
sector’s participation through government’s
investment initiatives, establishment of
competitive market environment for telecom
service operators, creating demands through IT
development, and cultural environments (MIC &
NIA, 2003: 178-183) were identified as the success
factors for the high speed broadband network
project. As for the Phase 1 e-Government,
president’s keen interest and support, committee
chairperson’s leadership and professionalism of
the committee members, cooperation by the
congress and government invested research
institutes, outstanding project management
models, and sacrificial efforts by the participants
are pointed out as the success factors (Special
Committee on e-Government, 2003: 303-305).
In summary, the success factors of e-
government are political, social, economical and
industrial environment, political determination
and leadership, vision and policy objective,
project’s strategic priority, implementation
system, human and financial resource
distribution, cooperation among institutions,
common framework, feedback, and learning
(Song, 2002; 2004). When organizing these factors
from system perspective, the factors become
environment, input (political determination and
leadership, vision and policy objective, and
project priority), transformation (implementation
system, distribution of human, financial, and
technical resources, and cooperative structure
among institutions), output (performance), and
feedback (feedback and learning).
3. Development Phases of e-Government
Korea’s e-government has undergone
comparably notable development phases per
administration, technological advancement level,
and mid-long term planning. Characteristics
comparison of such development phases is an
important process in analyzing the changes of
the e-government success factors.
After the 1980s, the Korean government
launched various projects, all with different time
frames and strategies. These projects were
National Basic Information System Project
(1987~1996), High Speed Broadband Network
Project (1995~2005), Framework Plan for IT
Development (1996~current), and e-Government
Project (2001~current). The e-government, which
was first commenced as an effort to computerize
the administrative process, has gone through
significant enhancement process with the
advancement of information technology,
automation of work process, and linkage with
process innovation, as well as change in political
leadership, implementation organization, and
legal basis.
In 1983, the Chun Doo-hwan Administration
(1981~1987) established the National Basic
Information System Plan3) for building 5 major
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Informatization Policy
3) The Economy Planning Board in charge of implementing the 5 Year Economy Development Plan recognized the necessity to develop and
national basic information networks by mid ’90s
as a part of the preparation project for the e-
government to raise the Korea’s IT infrastructure
to those of advanced nations’level.
The first stage of the e-government (1987~1995)
was launched as the 1st (1987~1991) and the 2nd
(1992~1996) National Basic Information System
Project in pursuant to the Act on IT Network
enacted in 1986. During the process, the IT
Network Development Committee lead the
automation of government administrative process
by building nation’s core DB on information of
citizens, real estate, and automobile and by
distributing PCs. The 2nd phase of the National
Basic Information System Project was pursued by
individual ministries and offices through
constructing interconnecting computer network
environment.
The 2nd stage of the e-government (1996~ 2000)
is the e-government growth process through
development projects in accordance with the IT
Development Framework Plan established in
pursuant to the IT Development Framework Act.
Particularly, the period is categorized as internet’s
explosive growth period as the social networking
that links the entire nation through mass
distribution of internet service and mobile
telecommunication service as a result of the high
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E-Government of Korea
advance science and technology and incorporated the informatization and computing industry development plan into the 5 Year Science andTechnology Development Plan.
* Source: PCGID (2005), MIC NIA (2005), Special Committee on e-Government (2003).
Year 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07
Administration Chun Doo-Hwan Noh Tae-Woo Kim Young-Sam Kim Dae-Jung Roh Moo-Hyun
ITDevelopmentPolicy
Nationwide IT
NetworkPlanning Phase 1 Phase 2
HighSpeed
NetworkPhase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
ITDevelop
mentFramewo
rk Plan
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
e-Governm
entPhase 1 Phase 2
e-GovernmentPhase Category
PreparationPhase
1st Stage 2nd Stage 3rd Stage
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 1 Phase 2
<Graph 1> Nationwide IT Development and e-Government Development Phase
speed broadband network project that was fully
launched in 1995.
The 3rd stage of the e-government (2001~2007)
is the maturity stage. On February 2001, the
Special Committee on e-Government under the
leadership of the president was established and
the importance and priority of the e-government
project was elevated as presidential agenda and
implemented throughout all the government
ministries and institutes. During this period, the
administration wide work process become
computerized through IT infrastructure and core
DB possessed by the government to improve the
civil service level provided to the citizens and to
maximize the internal administrative process.
The development phases displayed in period are
as shown in <Graph 1>.4)
Ⅲ. Success Factor Analysis
1. Environment
The IT development project was formed and
implemented in mutual interaction of needs and
seeds in the political & social as well as economic
& industrial technical environment.
Since the 1980s, globalization, free market, and
revolution in knowledge and information
provided necessary factors to the government’s
response efforts. The efficiency oriented New
Public Management (NPM) ideology and pursuit
of value (Hood and Jackson, 1991: 33-4; Martin,
2002: 130-131; OECD, 1995:28) by the advanced
nations as a result of oil crisis became the turning
point for the establishment of small and efficient
government. As a result, the Stage 1 e-government
project is comparably the starting point for
formation of small and efficient administration in
Korea.
The Stage 1 emphasized the formation of
small and efficient government as the transitional
method from dictatorship to democracy. The
Chun Doo-hwan Administration emphasized
reduction management and strengthening
market competitiveness. It benchmarked policy
objectives of the advanced nations and pursued
National Basic Information System Project
focused on human resource reduction and
improved productivity. During the same period,
the TDX Digital Switch, TICOM, high speed
semiconductors, CDMA, and other core
information technologies were consecutively
developed and the foundation for the growth of
IT industry was established. In addition,
universities’facilities and support for R&D
activities were expanded to foster professionals
in IT field and launched computer distribution
project for schools.
The Stage 2 was the period of mass public
distribution of Internet service through high
speed broadband network project to expand
national IT development efforts with strategy of
building small and efficient government,
globalization, free market and high speed
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Informatization Policy
4) The National Information Society Agency (NIA) largely divides the Korea’s IT development history into the Basic Infrastructure DevelopmentPerior (1980-1986), Initial Informatization Period (1987-1994), Full Informatization Period (1995-2003), and Value Creation Period (2004-current) (NIA, 2006:3).
broadband network that surpasses those of other
advanced nations. In 1993, USA’s Clinton
Administration built the National Information
Infrastructure (NII) to form “a government that
works better and costs less”(US NPR, 1994), and
in response, Japan established New Social
Capital Plan and European Union pursued the
Trans-European Network (TEN). To proactively
respond to the globalization, the Kim Young-sam
Administration (1993~1997) actively participated
in the Uruguay Round, WTO and OECD and
presented a vision for formation of small but
powerful government for construction of New
Korea and New Economy. Together with political
and democratization activities, civic movements
became vitalized and medias promoted
campaigns themed “We may be behind in
industrialization but let’s lead in informatization”.
In addition, universities and corporations
implemented IT learning courses and
competitions and other activities for nationwide
expansion of informatization, such as
distribution of personal computers in local
communities, were implemented.
In addition to the needs that arose as a result
of the Asia’s financial crisis during the end of
1997, the Stage 3 reflects the demands of the
period, which was the vitalization of competitive
market and advancement of democracy, both
pursued by the Kim Dae-jung Administration
(1998~2002). The administration was the first
turnover in ruling political party in Korea. As the
measures for the economic crisis, which is
interpreted as a result of failure in manufacturing
industry, the government resorted to venture
industry policy and exerted efforts to expand
social application of information technology.
After the economic crisis and about the period
when restructuring of 4 major sectors were being
completed, the administrative process
innovation through e-government was selected
as the government’s new reform strategy. In
other words, the government selected the
strategy for establishing government innovating
program that will reduce the nationwide
hardship that accompanies manpower reduction,
privatization, and other physical restructuring
process while minimizing complaints from those
who became the target of restructuring and to
improve government’s productivity and enhance
the service provided to citizens. (Special
Committee on e-Government, 2003: 55). In
addition, around 2000, world’s leading IT icons
including Alvin Toffler, Bill Gates, and
Masayoshi Son, as well as international media
have praised Korea as a nation that has
succeeded in IT development and has no other
nations to benchmark from and suggested
Korea to identify and pursue its own unique
development model.
The 2002 World Cup, the Red Devil (the Korea
National Football Team Supporters Club), the
Anti-America Candle Light Vigil as a result of an
accident by US Armored Personnel Carrier,
which resulted in death of two junior high school
students, and other civil activities have
integrated with matured IT media including
internet and mobile telephones. Such social
movements combined with advanced
technologies became the driving force behind
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E-Government of Korea
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Informatization Policy
social changes and have even contributed to the
election of Roh Moo-hyun Administration
(2003~2007).
As a result, for over past 20 years, Korea has
created dynamic conditions for maturing e-
government through mutual interaction of
enabling environment and necessity factors from
the political & social, economical & industrial,
and technological perspective.
2. Political Will and Leadership
In Korea’s political system, in which
presidential political power is so strong, the most
important factor for the success in pursuing e-
government project was the interest and will of
the president. When assessing from this
perspective, the National Basic Information
System as well as the e-Government Roadmap
were pursued with powerful wills and
determinations by all successive presidents.
Their wills were mostly implemented by
establishing Presidential Implementation
Committee or through the Chief of Staff Office.
In case of Chun Doo-Hwan Administration,
even though the National Basic Information
System Project, which was planned since 1983,
did not begun until the last year of his
presidency (1987), the President appointed the
Chief of Staff as the Chairman of the Information
Network Supervisory Commission and
displayed strong determination for the
implementation of the project.
Between 1992~1994 when the government
structure was in a transition period from
totalitarian government to congressional
government, the interest in IT development by
President Kim Young-Sam has somewhat
diminished but in with the launch of Information
Superhighway Project in USA in 1993, the
government solidified its will once more
by newly establishing the Ministry of
Communication (MIC) and through High Speed
Broadband Network Project. During 1998~2000,
right after the Asian financial crisis, President
Kim Dae-Jung’s interests were focused in
restructuring of 4 major sectors to recover from
the economic crisis and therefore, the president’s
interest in e-government project has lowered but
from 2001, the president’s will and interest
<Chart 4> Environment Factors
Stage Political & Social Factors Economical & Industrial Factors Technological Factors
Ⅰend of dictatorship government,
the ’88 Olympic Games
economic depression and demandfor government efficiency,
fostering of IT industryPC revolution, TDX, TICOM
Ⅱdemocratization and exposing of
government corruption
necessity of globalization andnational competitiveness, Asian
Financial Crisis
high speed broadband network,distribution of internet service,
CDMA Mobile Phones
Ⅲturnover in ruling political partyand participation, ’02 World Cup
restructuring of 4 major industries,fostering of IT venture industry
maturing of internet, advancement of SI industry
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E-Government of Korea
solidified the e-Government Project as the
strategic enabler with highest importance for
government innovation.
President Roh Moo-Hyun, who’s election can
largely be contributed to internet and cyber civic
movements and supports, established e-
Government Roadmap Project immediately after
his election and implemented government
innovation as the administration’s core objective.
President Roh also established committees,
subcommittees and special commission, and
received periodic advice on e-government.
In summary, the Chun Doo-Hwan
Administration pursued the National Basic
Information System Project through the
Presidential Information System Committee, the
Kim Young-Sam Administration implemented
the High Speed Broadband Network Project
through the IT Development Committee
established under the Prime Minister’s Office,
and the e-Government Project pursued through
the e-Government Committee under the
Presidential Order of both Kim Dae-Jung and
Roh Moo-Hyun all signifies that the fundamental
infrastructure and e-government were pursued
with the will and leadership among all
successive presidents. From this perspective, the
e-government’s decisive success factor is assessed
to be the determination and leadership by the
powerful presidents.
Regardless of the government form, be it
dictatorship or democratic, the reason for high
interest and implementation leadership shown
by the successive presidents in e-government can
be interpreted as a symbolic means for realistic
policy vision and goals, which will be interested
in the following section, but also to be the active
response measure in the future information
society environment and the lead such
environment. In other words, as the political
leader, the president utilized the e-government
as the presidential agenda that signified
administration which is fully preparing for and
leading the future information society.
3. Visions & Goals and Project Priority
1) Visions & Goals
The visions and goals of the e-government
presented by each administration are all the
results of mutual interactions of political, social,
economic and industrial, and technological
environment factors. In other words, the visions
and goals, while reflecting environmental
conditions, it also reflects the social needs for
overcoming the limitations and advancing such
environmental conditions. Although the 1st Stage
is launched under a small concept of achieving
efficiency and productivity as those of advanced
nation, the 2nd Stage adds service to citizens on
top of the efficiency and productivity and the 3rd
Stage progresses the IT development to add
transparency and strengthening of bi-directional
democracy by attracting citizens’participation.
In other words, the principal of e-government
evolved from efficiency to transparency and
responsibility, and then to include citizens’
participation from governance stand point.
The visions and goals of the 1st Stage e-
Government (1997~1995) was to achieve small
but efficient government. The project’s visions
and goals were set as improvement on public
service creation and delivery method, elevate
citizens’convenience, and improve national
competitiveness. The 2nd Stage Project set its
visions and goals as creation of small and
efficient government and achieving expedited
civil services. In other words, the 1st Stage set its
priority in improving productivity of the
administration process, creation of small
government, improving citizens’convenience,
and enhancing national competitiveness. The
facing agenda was to establish small and efficient
government to overcome government failures
such as stagflation as shown in advanced
nations’governments. The new information
technology including personal computers
provides new productivity enhancement
opportunities for both government and private
sector corporations that were at the verge of
competitiveness risk. The 1st Stage of Korea’s e-
Government Project was pursued based on the
new public management principals with efforts
in establishing small but efficient government
and as a part of the government’s efforts in
steadily progressing democracy and providing
social welfare service all at the same time while
continuously achieving pressurized growth.
The 2nd Stage was pursued with the addition
of enhancement of the service to the citizens and
improved efficiency of the Framework Plan for
the Promotion of IT Development. Establishing
customer service centers as the internet service
became widely distributed and strengthening the
sharing and openness of information are all
efforts on improving the service for the public.
The Phase 1 of the 3rd Stage e-Government
Project (2001~2002) had ambitious goals of
providing highest standard service to citizens,
maximize productivity and transparency,
provide most optimized corporate activity
environment, and achieve stability and reliability
of the IT infrastructure, all under the vision of
becoming one of the world’s top nation in the 21st
Century. It was the detailed plan of the national
vision of economic development and
advancement of democracy implemented
through e-government by the Kim Dae-Jung
Administration. The e-government was directly
managed by the presidential office as the
presidential agenda to prevent corruption in
government by improving transparency and to
provide the benefits of administrative process
reformation to citizens and corporations by
achieving one-stop civil service (Special
Committee on e-Government, 2003: 49, 55).
Roh Moo-Hyun Administration had the
vision of building world’s best open e-
government system. The administration set goals
to build networked government through
innovation in service delivery system,
establishment of knowledge based government
through improvement of administration
efficiency and transparency, and establishment
of citizens participating government that truly
acknowledges the rights of the people. The
administration pursued networking of
informatization and government innovation,
implementation of end user oriented projects,
establishment of performance objective and
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Informatization Policy
performance management per phases, and
fostering of IT industries (Government Innovation
Decentralization Committee, 2005: 13-29).
The common characteristics of the visions and
objectives of the 1st and the 2nd Stage e-
Government Projects were: first, pursue world’s
highest quality e-government system based on
the advancements and achievements of the
information technology and second, the
principals of transparency and participation by
the people were added to the improved
efficiency of the administrative process and
government for the people through nationwide
civil service enhancement.
From economic and industry perspective, the
government incorporated IT development and
fostering of the IT industries as priority together
with the e-government objectives and
implemented the strategies to achieve sequential
achievements of the development objectives. The
IT Industry Fostering Committee, established in
1983, was merged into the IT Network
Commission established in 1987 with all its
industry fostering related projects being
absorbed by the IT Network Commission (Jung
Hong-shik, 2007: 300, 319) or the designation and
implementation of the IT industry fostering as
one of the roadmap objective of the 2nd Stage e-
Government Project commenced in 2003
(Government Innovation Decentralization
Committee, 2005: 28-29) can be noted as the
representative cases.
In summary, the visions and strategic objectives
of the e-government reasonably reflected both
domestic and international political and social
democratization, development of economy
and industry, as well as the technological
advancement process and contributed towards
the government efficiency and adaptation by the
society.
2) Project Priority
The information system growth stage theory
was focused on the automation process of the
organization during the ’70s ~ ’80s (Nolan, 1979;
King and Kraemer, 1985; Galliers and Sutherland,
1991). In the ’90s, information technology was
linked with rebuilding of administrative process
(Snellen, 1990; Venkatraman, 1994), and during
and after 2000, the efforts were changing towards
mutual interaction between work and customers
as well as participation by the general public
(UNDESA, 2005; OECD, 2004; UNESCO, 2005).
In addition, the results of benchmarking leading
nations’e-government were categorized as the
front office and back office management.5)
Korea’s e-government is comparably in line with
such information system’s maturity directions.
In other words, the project’s details and
characteristics progressed from simple
automation of back office process to interactive
online front office services of multi-department
or all-departments (Song Hee-joon, 2004: 13-14).
The project objective during this process evolved
13
E-Government of Korea
5) The Central Information Technology Unit (UK CITY) of Great Britain categorized the e-government projects of major countries into thedemand (front office), the supply (back office), change management, and development of infrastructure (UK CITU, 2000; 2001), and the 11major projects of the e-Government Project implemented by the Special Committee on the e-Government during 2001~2003 was categorizedinto the front office, back office and e-government infrastructure project (Special Committee on e-Government, 2003:105).
from efficiency of government’s internal
administrative process to mass public service
and participation.
The Phase 1 of the 1st Stage Project (1987
~1991) involved building 5 major national
information DB of administration, finance,
education & research, national defense, and
national security. The 2nd Stage Project (1992~
1996) was the project for building 7 management
systems including public welfare, postal service,
meteorology, oceanic freight, and intellectual
property rights.
The administrative inter-department network
built as a part of the National Basic Information
System Project, internal process has made the
internal government process more efficient while
automating mass public civil services. For
example, the citizen’s registry management
process, which was previously conducted by a
civil service clerk at the dong-office via copying
the amended or full registry of the original
created manually, was changed to computerized
system and citizen’s reporting of change of
address was able to be conducted from distant
location thanks to the inter-department network
by district government branches. Such ability to
process administrative services from remote
locations through the inter-department network
is the significant achievement of the 1st Stage e-
Government Project (Song Hee-joon, Kim Jun-
han, 1991). Simultaneously, the 1st Stage
contributed transparency in economic activities
by implementing real name verification policy
for financial activities (Aug. 1993) for civil
services, real estate, and financial transactions
as well as the real estate real name verification
policy (Jul. 1995) (O Gwang-seok, 2005: 49).
However, there was the limitation of having such
verification certificates to be issued only by the
issuing agencies in their premises via visit in
person process because the internet service was
not yet widely distributed.
The 2nd Stage included the development of the
initial versions of homepages, document
distribution system, and e-approval system lead
by the MIC under the guidance of the IT
Development Committee. Through the
innovation of the Common Business Process
(CBP) (OECD, 2005: 69), which organized the
work activities networked through time and
space, the inter-department sharing and
communal usage was launched.
The 3rd Stage was primarily focused on the
multi-department front office services but its
priority elevated as the Presidential Order e-
Government Project. However, during the
formation and implementation process of the
e-government’s 11th project or the 31st roadmap,
it was implemented as the participatory
governance with active management by the
Special Committee on e-Government (Outside
Initiative Model, Cobb et al.). In other words, to
overcome the limitations of not being able to
seamlessly implement the Inside Initiative Model
as a result of lack of inter-department
cooperation and coordination and to pursue
projects in nationwide level, the president
utilized the professionalism of external
organizations and governance (Song Hee-joon,
2004). However, in the 3rd Stage, there are certain
14
Informatization Policy
differences in implementation strategies between
the Phase 1 and Phase 2 Projects. The former is
more inclined towards the centralized model
with the governance by the Special Committee
on e-Government until the completion of the
project but the Phase 2, although its agendas
are similar to the Phase 1, it is more inclined
towards the Inside Initiative Model with each
independent departments taking charge of their
portion of the project from implementation to
completion.
The 1st Stage e-Government Project was
composed of 11 segmented projects consisting of
4 front office related, 4 back office related, and 3
infrastructure related projects. Majority parts of
the 4 back office management process also
includes system for mass public service and it is
composed of multi-department projects such as
G4C and SIIS. The 2nd Stage e-Government
Project consisted of 4 sectors, 10 agendas, 31
major projects, and 45 unit projects. It’s roadmap
included first, integrate and expand the
infrastructure from multi-department network to
nationwide network; second, develop interactive
15
E-Government of Korea
<Chart 5> Per Stage Evolution of e-Government Visions and Objectives
Stage Plan Vision Primary Objective Administrative Principal
Ⅰ
Phase 1 Information
Network (87-91)
Create SmallGovernment & Advanced
Economy
- Improve public service productivity &delivery method
- Enhance citizen’s convenience- Improve national competitiveness Efficiency
Phase 2 Information
Network (92-96)
Create Small But PowerfulGovernment
- Create small but efficient government- Achieve speedy response in civil service
Ⅱ
Framework Act on
InformatizationPromotion Plan
(96-00)
Create Small But Efficient
e-Government
- Innovation in civil service- Promote public’s utilization and
transparency of government information- Create infrastructure for the expansion of
usage of administrative information- Supplement and upgrade existing system
Efficiency +mass public service
Ⅲ
Phase 1e-Government
(01-02)
Become World’sTechnologically
Advanced Nation in the 21st Century
- Administrative service for mass public- Corporate friendly environment- Improved productivity and transparency
of administration- Achieve stability and reliability of
information infrastructure
Efficiency +mass public service +
transparency
Phase 2 e-Government
(03-07)
Create World’s Most
Advanced Open e-Government
- Create networked government throughinnovation in service delivery
- Create knowledge based government byimproving efficiency and transparency
- Create People’s Participating Governmentthat upholds citizen’s rights
Efficiency +mass public service +
transparency +participation
websites (Q&A, FAQ, etc.), and details for
stimulating participation by customers, relative
parties, civic groups, and general population in
government policy activities to ensure
transparency in civil service handling phases and
governance perspective; and third, the roadmap
includes advanced integrated design model for
government’s functions, duties, information
resource, and other core factors, applied in
all branches throughout the government
(Government Innovation Decentralization
Committee, 2005: 50-52).
After the ’80s, the Korea’s e-government well
grasped the social necessity of evolution of
information technology and innovation in
government process as well as the era’s
characteristics and established appropriate
project objectives, implementation strategies, and
resource distribution methods, which resulted in
accelerated development of IT industry to one of
the world’s most advanced level. The process
progressed from single department infrastructure
to networking of back office and front office and
then to networking of multi-departments
and finally, total integration of nationwide
government branches.
4. Implementation Organization & Resource
Distribution
1) Implementation Organization
The implementation organization is
organizational resource employed during the
implementation stage of the project. It is the
combination of government group and external
group mutually interacting the interests and
leadership of the president to achieve the policy
visions and strategies under the given political
and industrial, economic and industrial, as well
as technological conditions.
The core implementation structure of the
National Basic Information System Project
included the formation of the Information
Network Supervisory Commission chaired by
the Presidential Chief of Staff, appointment of
secretary for the Ministry of Post and
Telecommunication, and the enactment of
legislature, the Act on Expansion of Information
Network and Promotion of its Usage as the legal
basis. The most notable factor is that the
Presidential Chief of Staff, who in general, cannot
have any other official title, was appointed as the
16
Informatization Policy
<Chart 6> Formation of the Phase 1 and Phase 2 e-Government Project
Phase Front Office Back Office Build Infrastructure Total
Phase 1 e-Government 4 4 3 11
Phase 2 e-Government6) 9 13 9 31
6) Although the Stage 1 e-Government Project officially categorized and sub-grouped the project into 4 front office, 4 back office and 3infrastructure projects, the Stage 2 Project did not. Because the 31 roadmap projects either shared little bits of 3 sub-groups or is repletion ofsome, it is difficult to categorize them but the author of this thesis categorized in accordance with the priority of the project detail for theconvenience of the study.
Commissioner of the Information Network
Supervisory Commission for 2 years between
1987 to 1989 and managed overall aspects of the
National Basic Information System Project,
played a leading role in resolving inter-
department differences, supervised necessary
standardization and security issues associated
with sharing of information among departments,
integration of network, and sharing of computer
and telecommunication resources, as well as
obtaining financial resources for the project.
The Phase 2 Project, which was launched in
1992, did not achieve much success as a result
of weakened implementation organization,
obtaining resources, and change in
implementation methods. It was the result of
weakened presidential power during the Kim
Young-Sam Administration, whose presidency
was during the transitional democratization
period.7) As a result, the National Basic
Information System Project, from 1989 when the
Commissioner of the Information Network
Supervisory Commission was changed from the
Presidential Chief of Staff to the Minister of the
Ministry of the Post and Telecommunication, did
not had much influence until the commission
was merged into the IT Development
Implementation Committee, chaired by the
Prime Minister, in the second half of 1995.
Particularly, with the funding and operation
method changing from invest first, settle later to
budget oriented per each implementing
departments and ministries, there was the
problem of being put off during the budgeting
process due to lack of technological knowledge
by the executives of each departments and
ministries. Furthermore, there were also notable
difficulties in being able to make long term plans
because the budgeting process at the time was
done on an annual basis.
The 2nd Stage Project was reinforced with the
IT Development Implementation Committee
(Chairman: Prime Minister), the Ministry of
Information of Communication (implementation
body), as well as the Framework Act on
Informatization Promotion. Such transformation
of the Kim Young-Sam Administration was
influenced by the pursuit of high speed
broadband network projects in major countries
following the USA’s National Information
Infrastructure (NII) Project in 1993. In 1994, the
government established the High Speed
Broadband Network Project Plan and as the
implementation organization of the project,
reorganized the Ministry of the Post and
Telecommunication to the Ministry of
Communication (MIC) on December of 1994. In
addition, the government also enacted the
Framework Act on Informatization Promotion
in 1995 and established the Basic Plan for
Informatization Promotion8) and integrated all
the functions necessary for implementing the
2nd Stage Project. The Information Network
Supervisory Commission, which was chaired
17
E-Government of Korea
7) Since the Kim Young-Sam Administration placed high importance in hardware type, or physical democratization, apart from the past’smilitary dictatorship government, during its initial administrative period (1993), the interest in IT development received lesser priority.
8) The 1st Stage IT Development Basic Plan (1996~2000) was implemented as a part of the 2nd Stage Basic Plan titled the Cyber Korea 21(1999~2001) and the 3rd Stage Basic Plan (2002~2006), titled the e-Korea Vision 2006 is currently being implemented.
by the Minister of the Ministry of Post and
Telecommunication, has been elevated and
renamed as the IT Development Implementation
Committee chaired by the Prime Minister.
However, with the order of the president, the
administrative control influence of the Prime
Minister for inter-department relationship and
the technical support resource of the MIC were
significantly limited. However, the MIC
appropriately utilized the Informatization
Promotion Fund and managed the IT development
projects with the support by the National
Information Society Agency (NIA).
Since 2001, the Kim Dae-Jung Administration
pursued the e-government project, which
required professionalism and centralization of
multi-departments, under the presidential
governance. To achieve successful implementation
of the project, the Special Committee on e-
Government, with leading role by the private
sector, was formed under the Government
Innovation Decentralization Committee and
appointed powerful authority with supervision
by the Secretary of Administration and Planning,
who reported periodically directly to the
president. This is the reinstatement of similar
structure as the Information Network Supervisory
Commission in the 1st Stage, which the chairman
was the Presidential Chief of Staff. Especially,
since the Special Committee had direct reporting
line to the president, it was able to be
independent from resistance by the individual
departments and none cooperation. In addition,
the Special Committee employed the cooperative
system of three important departments of the
Planning and Budgeting Office (government
innovation support), the MIC (technology &
financial support), and the Ministry of
Government Administration and Home Affairs
(cooperation of government organizations and
district government branches) and implemented
the multi-department projects (Special Committee
on e-Government, 2003: 25).
In 2003, the Roh Moo-Hyun Administration
implemented the e-government project under
the management of the Government Innovation
Decentralization Committee with purpose of
juxtaposition and reformation of administration,
decentralization of government authority,
reformation of personnel placement and
appointment, and reformation of finance and
taxation. Although the exterior formation of the
e-government project being integrated with the
government innovation efforts and being
elevated to presidential agenda is similar to that
of the Kim Dae-Jung Administration but the
authority of the Special Committee as well as
administrative and financial support to the
departments has been weakened (Government
Innovation Decentralization Committee, 2005:
37-48). In other words, even though the
establishment of projects in accordance with the
e-government roadmap and its implementation
was lead by the none government affiliated
experts to ensure professionalism and neutralism
among the departments, once the roadmap
projects have become established and confirmed,
the controlling influence of the Special Committee
on e-Government became limited and the actual
implementation functions were transferred from
18
Informatization Policy
the MIC to the MGAHA. Despite of increasing
integration and merging of inter-department
affairs, the controlling body being degraded to
the level of central government level made
coordination among the departments highly
difficult (Song, 2004).9) The unlike the 1st Stage e-
Government, which the project establishment
until the completion is supervised by the Special
Committee on e-Government, the 2nd Stage e-
Government Project is pursued in distributed
manner in which the Special Committee is only
involved with the establishing the project and
while each individual departments implementing
their pertaining part of the project under the
overall management by the MGAHA. It has
already been proven that under the government
management, it is highly difficult for a
government department to manage other equal
level departments on a single project which
accomplishments for individual department are
measured. It must be noted that US Federal
Government, as their e-government progressed
to the 3rd Stage, the Office of Management and
Budgeting (OMB) was made and independent
and single responsible organization in charge of
centralization and achieving inter-department
cooperation (Wolfe, 1999).
2) Information Technology & Supporting Network
e-Government is a social and technical system
requiring appropriate information technology
support. Korea’s e-government developed
through appropriate incorporation and
utilization of evolving technologies per each
development stage. In addition to the National
Basic Information System Project and distribution
19
E-Government of Korea
<Chart 7> e-Government Implementation Body
Stage Plan Committee Chairperson Managing Organization
I
Phase 1 Network Information Network
Supervisory Commission(1987-1995)
Presidential Chief of Staff (87-89)
Ministry of Post andTelecommunication
Phase 2 Network
Minister of the Ministry of Post andTelecommunication
(89-95)
Ministry of Post andTelecommunication
Ⅱ
Framework Plan for IT Development
Promotion
IT DevelopmentImplementation
Committee(1996-current)
Prime Minister (96-current)
Ministry of Informationand Communication
Ⅲ
Phase 1 e-Government Special Committee
on e-Government(2001-current)
Civilian (Secretary ofPolicy Planning)
MIC, MGAHA, and OPB
Phase 2 e-Government
Civilian (Secretary ofInnovation Management)
MGAHA
9) Notably, the issue associated with selecting which Ministry, among the Office of Planning and Coordination, the MGAHA, and MIC, will bein charge of the multi-department related project among the 31st e-government roadmap, was put aside until the end of 2007.
of personal computers, the e-government’s
technological infrastructure was reinforced with
high speed broadband network for providing
online administrative services and information
including patents, taxes, and education to the
mass public and functioned as the mean for
delivering services of the e-government.
Furthermore, in line with the evolution of
technologies, the e-government was supported
with various IT strategies including the
Informatization Strategy Plan (ISP) and
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) (National
Information Society Agency, 2007b: 66-72).
The National Information Society Agency
(NIA), which was established in 1987 and have
since been providing technological support for
nation’s IT development and e-government
projects to this date, is evaluated to be one of the
success cases of the institution building. In
addition, there are government affiliated
research institutes such as the Korea Information
Society Development Institute (KISDI), Korea
Information Security Agency (KISA), and
Electronics and Telecommunications Research
Institute (ETRI) as well as KT and private sector
corporations related with the IT development
joined in the policy network and contributed
greatly towards policy making and providing
technological expertise to the e-government
projects. Particularly, the Informatization
Promotion Fund, established after the initiation
of privatization process of the telecommunication
sector in 1981, played an important role in
building the framework for information society
through the high speed broadband network and
research and development projects (MIC, 2003:
70-86).
3) Resource Distribution
Even from financial resource management
perspective, the e-government is evaluated to
have acquired sufficient resources which were
invested appropriately. In case of 1st Stage e-
Government Project, the finance resource
implementation was done via invest first, settle
later method but to supplement the weakness
and utilize the positive aspects of such method,
the Informatization Promotion Fund, financed by
the government funding, loan, funding by the
fixed and mobile telecommunication companies,
as well as by the dividend payout from shares of
Korea Telecom or selling of the corporate stocks,
were established in 1993 (Song, 2004: 83). The
fund, which was managed by the MIC, was
provided in a form of a matching fund to each
government branches for their IT development
projects and stimulated the incentive system for
pursuing risk associated projects. In an
environment where the success was not proven
and with low background of expertise, such
policy backed system played an important role
in promoting implementation of risky projects
by each department.
Such funding system, unlike the fixed budget
process, provided flexibility in financial
management for pursuing long-term projects
from investment perspective and contributed
towards launching of never before used or
experienced emerging technologies, even with
their associated risk of failure. Many of the
20
Informatization Policy
informatization projects were pushed aside or
placed in lower priority in many departments as
a result of low awareness and knowledge in the
technology or risk involved.10) Under such
conditions, the fund overcame the limitations of
budgeting and provided powerful incentive in
a form of matching fund. For example, the
procurement EDI Project, established as the
initiative to strengthen the national
competitiveness on August of 1995, received the
matching fund from the Informatization
Promotion Fund. It was implemented in
accordance with the EDI Framework Plan jointly
established by the Office of Procurement and
NIA. Built on to the EDI Project, the internet
based e-procurement system was developed as
part of the 11th e-Government Project in 2001,
which received the UN Public Service Award
(PSA) as the model success case in the world.
The fund’s principal mechanism is to be utilized
as flexible alternative to the existing budgeting
system for implementing long term IT
development projects in accordance with the
president’s agenda and IT industry’s policy
objectives.
One of the success factors in e-government is
implementation of performance oriented
investment policy similar to those employed in
enterprises which pursues innovation in work
process (OECD, 2004: 54). In fact, one of the
attributing factor to the success of the e-
government during its 2nd Stage even under the
government transitional period, was the
appropriate level of support provided through
incentive fund to those departments, universities,
and small and mid sized businesses which have
accomplished certain level of achievements.
However, since 2005, the fund was transformed
as the Information and Telecommunication
Promotion Fund, which was primarily focused
on the R&D efforts in information technology
and as the management of the e-government
became under the management of the MGAHA,
the budgeting for e-government projects was
incorporated into general budget process
(government investment) and settles as annual
budget category.11) Notably in 2005, the IT
Development Budgeting Committee, which is
chaired by the Director of the Office of Planning
and Budgeting, was established under the IT
Development Implementation Committee and
commenced overall management of the IT
21
E-Government of Korea
10) When the Special Committee on e-Government was established in 2001, many senior officials of the government branches had highlyinsufficient level of knowledge in the concept of e-government and project objective. Some even stated during the meetings, “I do not knowmuch about the e-government,”and added, “But I hear about the e-government until my ears fall off from the president.”It was such keeninterest by the president that these officials had no choice but to place e-government in high priority (e-Government White Paper, 2003: 58).Prior to the 3rd Stage e-Government Project, except for the civil officials directly involved with the informatization project, interest andknowledge in e-government by general civil service employees and high positioned officials were generally low. However, as thereengineering of the inter-department work process became more widely expanded through the e-government and as the generalknowledge in information technology increased throughout general population, the adaptation of the e-government by the public serviceemployees has also expanded. However, since this research does not cover how the e-government was adopted by the public serviceemployees per each stage, there is a need for additional study to supplement such limitations.
11) As the fund from the liquidation of KT stocks and selling of IMT-2000 business license started to diminish, together with the transfer of the e-government project management from the MIC to MGAHA, the Informatization Promotion Fund seized to provide funding to e-government projects as of 2005 and policy was established for the fund to be utilized only for information and telecommunication relatedR&D projects.
development related budgets.
5. Feedback and Learning
The feedback and learning process are
activities for reflecting project achievement
assessment results towards improvement of
future activities. Since e-government project is not
a one time but an on-going project, improvement
efforts through such feedback and learning
process is important to enhance performance and
outputs. As the e-government progressed over
number of Stages, each stage was reviewed to
identify the success and failure factors and such
process minimized the failure risks while
maximizing the chances of success in the future
projects.
As an example for mid and long term strategy,
the 2nd Stage overcame the difficulties associated
with information sharing among administrative
institutions and implemented high speed
broadband network project to provide mass
public online service because the 1st Stage e-
Government resulted in low usage of available
information due to insufficient network
infrastructure (MIC and NIA, 2005: 34-35). As an
example of implementation structure, when the
Kim Dae-Jung Administration expanded the e-
government from single department oriented to
multiple inter-department oriented system, the
IT Development Implementation Committee
managed by the Office of Planning and
Coordination and the MIC was replaced with the
newly established Presidential Special Committee
on e-Government, which was the result of the
research on previous cases of project management
and implementation capability.
From development project perspective, the
2nd Stage e-Government Project included
modification and updating of already established
DB systems, such as citizens registry, real estate,
and finance, as part of the 10 major projects of the
Framework Plan for Informatization Promotion
(1996~1998) (MIC, 2003: 146). Some of the
projects outlined in the e-Government roadmap
of the Roh Moo-Hyun Administration also
included supplementing and technological
updating of the 11th e-Government Project of the
Kim Dae-Jung Administration (Government
Innovation Decentralization Committee, 2005:
53-54). Therefore, the learning of prior project
cases was not conducted on the past mid and
22
Informatization Policy
Period Funding Structure Managing Ministry Legal Basis
1987~1992Invest First, Settle Later
MPT Act on IT Network
1993~2004InformatizationPromotion Fund
MICFramework Act on Informatization Promotion
(General Provisions for Informatization)
2005~current General Budget MGAHABudgeting and Accounting Act (General
Accounting e?Government Investment Fund)
<Chart 8> e-Government Financial Support Structure
* Source: Government Innovation Decentralization Committee (2005:45), e-Government of the Participatory Government.
long term planning and individual projects but it
also involved reviewing of the implementation
organization and methods as well.
Particularly, during this feedback and learning
process, the NIA, KISDI, KISA, and relative
organizations conducted in depth individual and
group research on causes of failure of previously
implemented projects and by sharing the results
of such research, they played a leading
contributing role towards development of future
planning.12)
Ⅳ. Summary & Future Recommendations
The successful achievement of Korea’s IT
development and e-government is evaluated to
be the result of combined efforts in implementing
systemized and unified policies developed
through government initiative mid- and long-
term development strategies (NIA, 2005). This
study did not presume scientific priority order of
diverse influential factors that has contributed to
such accomplishment, nor did it point out which
played more or less contributing role. However,
the success can be interpreted as the results of
responding to the changing environment with
establishment of mid- and long-term goals,
formation of implementation organizations,
budgeting, establishment of legislative basis, and
provisioning information technology resources,
all backed by strong determination and
leadership of the president. Throughout the
process, the increasing social awareness and
interest in the efficiency of the information
technology is once again reflected as the
reinforced feedback on the next phase of the e-
government project. Among these, the common
success factors for all e-government projects can
be summarized as the determination and interest
by the president, flexible resource distribution
method, and technical support by relative
institutes such as the MIC and NIA.
In depth analysis of e-government
implementation organizations in Korea and
foreign nations shows that if the final decision
maker is involved deeply, then the formation of
agenda, distribution of human and material
resources are done in the order from authority
group to controlling interest group and
downwards but if the implementation
organization is government bureaucracy, then it
tends to have characteristics of having difficulties
in gaining cooperation among departments and
fierce competitiveness in obtaining resources
(Jung-Eun Park, Song Hee-joon , 2006: 126-127).
From this perspective, the success of e-
government is the result of organizing human,
material and technical resources through the
backing by the strong determination and
leadership of the president, which were
efficiently utilized to achieve the objective of
administrative efficiency, improve service to
mass public, improve administrative process
transparency, and citizens participation and
23
E-Government of Korea
12) Since the personnel placement, H/R management and appointment of the public official under the government bureaucracy is fully relyingon the circulation assignment process, there was the weakness and limitations that the civil service employees were not able to accumulatethe IT development related technologies and experiences within the departments but the long term contractual employees of the sub-government organizations provided supplementing functions.
applied the advancing information technologies.
Simultaneously, information industry promotion
with the objective of advancing the IT industry
was also implemented in each stage of the project
as well as applying feedback and research results
of previous experience on the next phase
planning.
However, there still remains number of issues
that must be resolved before Korea’s e-government
can be assessed as total success in all aspects.
First, it can be summarized that the foremost
visions and the ultimate objectives of pursuing e-
government are improve government efficiency,
provide mass public service, and citizens’
participation. In this process, the government
efficiency in the form of reduction of civil service
employees and time, improvement on mass
public service, and transparency as well as
irresponsibleness of policies will be improved.
From this perspective, there is a necessity for on-
going interest to ensure appropriate utilization of
continuously evolving information technology
and reengineering of government work process.
Second, the performance management for
improving system usage must be strengthened
towards customer’s needs oriented rather than
provider’s preference oriented. As of 2007, the
usage rate survey (MOGAHA, 2007) showed e-
government usage to be below 50%. Precise
diagnosis must be conducted to determine the
needs of the citizens and provide consumer
friendly service based on such needs. To achieve
this, improvement must be made in the areas of
customer’s selectivity, approachability, and
stimulate usage.
Third, to integrate and enhance the effectiveness
of the networking of inter-department and inter-
ministry administrations in accordance with
the nationwide administrative branch design
model, there still remains a difficult hurdle in
overcoming the stovepipe vertical process flow
and territory guarding tendency by individual
departments and ministries. To overcome this,
there is a necessity to adapt the enterprise
architecture model that can overcome the
business reference model, which was adapted as
one of e-government roadmap project.
Fourth, the evolution of ubiquitous
information technology will bring forth a new
challenge to e-government. Particularly, the
future policies for the IT industry must pursue
strengthening of the development, distribution
and support of LINUX based software that can
be used on various e-government services and
administrative applications. Especially, the
strategies for organic integration of technology
demand and service distribution must be
reinforced with consideration to the fact that
prior government administration pursued
fostering of IT industry as a part of the e-
government strategies.
Finally, there is a necessity to overcome the
issues that arose with the transfer of the
managing organization from MIC to MGAHA,
as a result of restructuring of e-government
implementation structure by the Roh Moo-Hyun
Administration in addition to the redesigning of
the information technology support network to
be more efficient and technology oriented so that
it can actively provide support, as it has done so
24
Informatization Policy
in the past.
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