This chapter explores Korea’s progress in delivering human-centred and proactive public services, guided by the OECD’s Recommendation of the Council on Human-centred Public Administrative Services and Good Practice Principles for Public Service Design and Delivery in the Digital Age. It highlights strengths in accessibility, scalability, and transparency, while identifying opportunities to deepen user engagement and improve integration. Korea’s experience offers lessons for responsive, future-ready service delivery.
Digital Government Review of Korea
Harnessing Digital and Data to Transform Government
Abstract
Service delivery is at the heart of a government’s relationship with citizens, shaping trust in institutions and access to opportunities. High-quality, reliable public services strengthen confidence in government integrity and ensure policies achieve their intended goals. In an era of digital transformation, external pressures demand continuous improvement in service efficiency, while driving innovation in citizen-centred design. Meeting these expectations is about operational success and reinforcing trust, fostering satisfaction, and ensuring that government remains responsive to the evolving needs of the people it serves (OECD, 2024[1]; OECD, 2020[2])
It is critical to continually evaluate and improve how public services are designed and delivered, and in a holistic way that considers the technical elements of delivering a service as well as broader historical, socio-economic, political, cultural, and environmental factors. To this end, the OECD adopted the Recommendation of the Council on Human-centred Public Administrative Services to support countries to ensure reliable and trusted public administrative services (Box 6.1) (OECD, 2024[3]).
The Recommendation provides a policy framework for the development and implementation of services that put people’s needs at the centre of policy design and delivery. It has four pillars.
Pillar 1: Strategic vision, values, and rights
Whole-of-government strategy: develop services aligned with government-wide goals.
Foster a human-centred culture: prioritise user needs and public engagement.
Protect rights: respect the rule of law, providing procedural guarantees and transparency.
Pillar 2: Core foundations
Leadership and roles: clearly define leadership and co-ordination responsibilities.
Skills and competencies: build public servants’ capacity to design and deliver services.
Digital infrastructure: develop scalable, secure, and interoperable digital infrastructure to support service delivery.
Pillar 3: Seamless and accessible services
User-centred design: based on user needs, ensuring inclusiveness and accessibility.
Omni-channel approach: provide consistent, high-quality service across all channels.
Simplified services: streamline processes, reduce administrative burdens, anticipate needs.
Pillar 4: Measurement, engagement, improvement
Measure user experience: track user satisfaction and service performance.
Data-driven improvement: use data and feedback to continuously enhance services.
Public engagement: involve users in the co-design and evaluation of services.
Source: (OECD, 2024[3])
To complement the Recommendation, the OECD’s Good Practice Principles for Public Service Design and Delivery in the Digital Age provide a policy tool for achieving the four pillars. The three fundamentals and nine principles offer practical guidance on translating the ambitions of the recommendation into concrete action (OECD, 2022[4]; OECD, 2020[2]).
Source: (OECD, 2022[4])
These Good Practice Principles reflect a growing consensus on the priorities for governments in delivering effective public services in the digital age. They embody shared values and align with emerging trends in digital government worldwide. By setting clear guidelines, the principles support strategic, coherent approaches to service design and delivery, driving improvements in accountability, outcomes, and public sector innovation across OECD Members and Partner countries (OECD, 2022[4]; OECD, 2020[2]).
The principles have been applied to understand Korea’s approach to delivering user-centred and proactive public services, as well as its progress towards the effective implementation of the pillars of the recommendation. The first two pillars of the recommendation focus on having the right governance, capabilities and enabling environment in place to facilitate human-centred public administrative services, which have been covered extensively in Chapter 3. This chapter will therefore focus on Pillars 3 and 4 of the recommendation to understand how these factors come together to contribute to the effective and user-driven design, delivery and oversight of public services in the digital age.
The first fundamental pillar of the Good Practice Principles focuses on offering users a seamless experience to address their needs and expectations. Omni-channel availability and connected data help ensure that services are accessible, personalised, and effective, while user engagement ensures that the services are inclusive, responsive, and empower users through continuous feedback and personalisation.
Korea focuses on delivering human-centred and inclusive public services at all levels of government to meet user needs. The government implements many of the policy levers that the OECD believes enable more inclusive, accessible, and effective services, including:
Omni-channel strategy to deliver public services, which implies the integration of all channels available to deliver public services. Allowing citizens to move fluidly between contact points and the service to offer a comfortable experience.
Mechanisms to implement the ‘once-only’ principle, which refers to the right of citizens and business to provide data to public-sector organisations only once (OECD, 2024[5]), calling on the public sector to establish governance, standards, and infrastructure to share and reuse data while respecting data-protection and other regulation.
Standards for public-service design and delivery, which include principles for shared definitions of the quality and behaviours associated with public-service design and delivery. Such principles provide the basis for setting expectations of delivery partners (whether public servants or non-governmental suppliers) and can be the criteria to formally assess performance.
Varied methods to engage and consult with diverse users, to give stakeholders the opportunity and the resources (e.g., information, data, and digital tools) to collaborate during all phases of the policy-cycle and in service design and delivery.
Korea’s legislative and governance frameworks ensure that accessibility of services is front-of-mind in its omni-channel approach to delivering public services. Articles 16 and 19 of the Electronic Government Act require that government services are easy to access by diverse user groups, and require each agency “to ensure that citizens do not have difficulty accessing or utilising electronic government services due to their economic, regional, physical, or social conditions.” (Government of Korea, 2022[6]) This is complemented by the 2nd Master Plan for Electronic Government, which includes an objective of service delivery through citizens’ preferred channels, and ensures that steps address the digital divide among vulnerable groups by providing customised services and improving access to technology (Government of Korea, 2021[7]).
Regarding its implementation of the ‘once-only’ principle, Korea has a rich ecosystem of administrative data-sharing, as highlighted in Chapter 4. These practices align with the E-Government Act requirement that administrative agencies not make people provide information that can be verified through data sharing between agencies, which reduces administrative burden and cuts red tape (Government of Korea, 2022[6]).
Further, Korea has mechanisms to leverage implementation of the ‘once-only’ principle in service delivery, including through approval or funding of new projects. In the budget-approval process for government projects, adherence to the principle is examined during the preliminary review process (Chapter 3), which means approval can be affected by how well a project integrates data sharing (Government of Korea, 2025[8]). Further, before a Request-for-Proposal can be released to the market, there is a review of whether the ‘once-only’ principle has been properly included in the tender (Government of Korea, 2025[9]). In addition, during development of project plans, the MOIS reviews how administrative data-sharing is factored into a project’s delivery and will request that agencies revise their proposals if this has not been addressed sufficiently.
To ensure a consistent and citizen-centric approach to public-service delivery, the Korean government applies a robust framework of laws, regulations, and guidelines that set clear service standards across all administrative bodies. The Administrative Procedures Act underpins transparency and participatory governance, requiring agencies to foster innovation and facilitate co-operation with citizens (Government of Korea, 2022[10]). The Presidential Directive on Service Charters mandates that each agency develop a service charter based on principles such as customer-centricity, quality, and cost-effectiveness (Ministry of Science and ICT, 2023[11]). However, agencies often adopt the MOIS Regulation on Service Charters, which includes guidance on service performance evaluation, customer engagement, and accountability. Operational performance is then supported by the 2024 e-Government Performance Management Manual, which enables agencies to assess compliance and service impact throughout the digital service lifecycle (Government of Korea, 2025[8]) In addition, the Government-wide User Interface/User Experience (UI/UX) Design System ensures accessibility and consistency in user-facing systems, aligned with quality standards (Box 6.2).
The KRDS provides guidance and resources to encourage more-inclusive UI/UX design and more-consistent digital public services. It covers principles, guidelines, and code to design and build government web-app digital services. It offers specific guidance based on different role types, including for designers, developers, and government officials.
As part of the KRDS, Korea’s Design Principles advise those working on digital services that:
all decisions about digital government services should be user-centred
services should embrace all users, especially those with different abilities, circumstances, and situations, including people with disabilities, the elderly, children, and foreigners
users have a common service experience that is tailored to their individual circumstances
decision-making should be minimised to ensure fast and simple digital public services
digital public services should be easy to understand and designed to be concise and intuitive, with familiar content and interfaces so users can use them without assistance
service design should consider users’ purposes, skills, and frequency of use
services should be reliable, trustworthy, and accurate
In addition to these principles, the KRDS, includes guidance on digital inclusion, visual style, UI components, basic patterns that can be replicated for streamlined and consistent service design.
To embed public participation in service design, the government administers the Citizen Participatory Design Group (CPDG) (Box 6.3), supported by formal guidelines and a collection of best practices. This initiative strengthens collaborative design processes and promotes innovation by drawing on real-world examples of citizen engagement (Koo, 2025[14]). Collectively, these instruments reflect Korea’s commitment to delivering high-quality public services that are transparent, inclusive, and outcome driven.
Korea’s CPDG is the national public-service design group, operated by MOIS in collaboration with the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP). Launched in 2014, CPDG institutionalises structured citizen-participation for policy development and service. It brings together public officials, users, service designers, and subject-matter experts to co-create solutions to complex policy challenges.
The Group employs human-centred design to address complex social issues across varied domains, including healthcare, welfare, regional development, and environmental challenges. This approach facilitates the identification of user needs and the development of innovative solutions.
CPDG follows a five-stage, human-centred design process, from understanding problems and discovering needs to developing, prototyping, and refining policy solutions. This approach ensures that diverse, user-informed perspectives are embedded at every stage of the policy cycle. Internationally recognised, CPDG improves both the responsiveness and trustworthiness of Korea’s public services by fostering a more inclusive, participatory, and user-centred model of governance.
Source: (Koo, 2025[14])
Finally, Korea uses varied methods to engage and consult with diverse users in the design and delivery of public services. Public institutions strongly endeavour to engage users up-front to gather requirements for service improvements, particularly from feedback and complaints about the use of services. From CPDG, there is engagement and consultation of a broad range of actors – including users, experts, and those involved in frontline service delivery – in the design and development phases for new services. There is growing awareness of the value of user-centred design across the public sector, even if it focuses for now on UX and UI (instead of on user testing throughout the service lifecycle). It is clear from fact-finding interviews that champions of user-centred design across public institutions recognize Korea’s long-term journey towards embedding these practices for more human-centred services.
In addition, legislated measures ensure that the UX of digital solutions is considered, including that:
Heads of administrative agencies review user testing approaches outlined in a project plan and Request-for-Proposal before they can be finalised (Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 2025[15]).
Annual surveys analyse the performance of major digital government services, including user satisfaction and demand, which inform service improvements (Government of Korea, 2001[16])
Reports by the National Design Group be submitted to analyse the obstacles encountered by stakeholders, including citizens, businesses, and government officials, who participated in the design of digital government services (Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 2017[17])
While not exhaustive, these give attention to user needs throughout the service design and delivery cycle and in assessment after the launch of a service.
As Korea looks for opportunities to strengthen its approach, it could encourage greater and more-direct engagement with users during the design and building of digital public services, and more-comprehensive measurement and monitoring of service performance across the public administration.
Despite engagement and consultation of users when designing services, there could be more consistent and standardised user testing at all stages of service design and delivery (Figure 6.2). OECD fact-finding interviews and survey revealed good user-engagement practices in the requirements-gathering phase before the design of a service, with public consultations, surveys, focus groups, expert panels, and stakeholder meetings happening across the public administration. However, it should be noted that requirements-gathering is often done with frontline staff about their understanding of users’ problems or needs instead of engaging with users directly. In addition, while there are practices to monitor user feedback and satisfaction after a service goes live, this was often described as capturing specific problems with a service instead of more-comprehensive service performance indicators.
Methods for user research and testing before, during, and after the development of a digital service
Source: (Paul, 2024[18])
Findings from the OECD fact-finding interviews and survey highlighted a gap in user engagement during the design and build of a service, with no practices around regular usability research, accessibility testing, or co-design workshops. Addressing this gap would allow designers and developers to test and iterate with users before the service goes live, which can reduce the risk of launching a service that is complicated to use, has bugs, or does not meet the needs of all users. It can also minimise the need to address issues or rework services that are already live, which can be costly and create additional friction in users’ experience.
Furthermore, many public institutions noted that the user experience would improve with better training instead of concentrating on enhancing the design of services to make them more intuitive. This highlights a need to shift attitudes towards design a service that is more intuitive and user-friendly in the first place rather than putting the onus on the user to interact with a service better.
To address these points, the Korean government could take inspiration from several approaches in the OECD to user engagement during the design and build of services (Box 6.4).
United Kingdom: Government Digital Service (GDS)
The GDS promotes user-centred design by embedding user research throughout the service lifecycle. The GDS Service Manual mandates that digital services be shaped by actual user needs, not assumptions. Through user interviews, usability testing, and accessibility reviews, GDS ensures that services are intuitive and inclusive. All government services must meet the GDS Service Standard before launch, emphasising simplicity, clarity, and speed.
Denmark: User Involvement in Service Design
Denmark prioritises user involvement in digital-service design by incorporating co-creation workshops, usability testing, and feedback loops. The Danish Agency for Digital Government partners with citizens throughout development to ensure that services address real-life needs. Projects pilot in municipalities before scaling nationally, allowing for iterative refinement.
Canada: Digital Standards and User Research
Canada’s Digital Standards place user needs at the core of public-service design. The Canadian Digital Service (CDS) guides departments in conducting user research, journey mapping, and usability testing throughout the development process. Emphasising inclusion, CDS encourages teams to engage with diverse user groups and iterate frequently. The standards promote services that are simple, accessible, and continuously improve. This approach leads to successes like the COVID-19 support portal, where real-time feedback and testing ensured clarity, equity, and usability across populations.
New Zealand: Service Innovation Lab
New Zealand’s Service Innovation Lab pioneered collaborative digital service design by involving users, public agencies, and private partners in co-design efforts. Focused on inclusion, the Lab emphasised Māori-engagement and user-driven approaches to complex life events like childbirth or relocation. It championed agile methods, prototyping, and shared ownership of solutions across agencies.
Finally, the OECD fact-finding interviews revealed limited approaches across public-sector institutions in the monitoring and analytics of service performance to inform improvements, despite the existence of requirements. This might signal a potential issue with the requirements’ implementation across agencies and/or agencies’ capacity and capability to comply.
The second fundamental pillar of the Good Practice Principles focuses on empowering public administration with the conditions, methodologies, tools, practices and resources to deliver high-quality public services to people and business. Korea shows progress here, raising its digital capability, consistent methodologies for engaging users in service design and delivery, and especially service modernisation with the Digital Government Platform initiative and private-sector channels to support service delivery. To harness the potential of AI in public service, Korea embeds data and AI competencies across its civil service through a strategic, structured approach. As mentioned in Chapter 3, the Digital Civil Servant Competency Framework defines the skills in technology use, data-driven policy-making, and digital engagement critical for trustworthy and effective AI adoption (Tuan and Hai, 2025[23]). Government guidelines promote strong data governance, inter-agency collaboration, and upskilling officials through targeted training and leadership roles like Chief Data Officers. By fostering a culture of data-informed decision-making, Korea ensures its public sector is equipped to deploy AI effectively.
Further, to ensure consistent, high-quality public-service delivery, Korea has a robust framework that integrates project-management methodologies, service standards, and structured user-engagement practices. The survey highlighted how a nationally mandated, standards-based project-management approach guides digital and ICT initiatives, supporting effective planning, early risk detection, ongoing monitoring, and active stakeholder participation throughout the project lifecycle. Complementary laws, regulations, and guidelines such as service charters, UI/UX standards, and performance manuals reinforce transparency, citizen involvement, and service quality across government agencies. User engagement is central to service design, supported by tools like the Easy Guide to Public Service Design, which helps identify problems and co-develop user-centric solutions. National guidelines require rigorous testing, including usability testing, expert reviews, security assessments, and performance evaluations to ensure services are secure, functional, and aligned with public needs. Additionally, Korea promotes standardised approaches that can be adopted across agencies to improve user engagement (Table 6.1).
Source: Data provided to the OECD from the MOIS, April 2025.
Korea’s strengths with regard to its ecosystem of enabling tools, practices, and resources appear to be its unified digital gateway with the Digital Platform Government initiative, its use of digital identity for secure access to services, and its integration of private-sector channels for service delivery.
Efforts underway will integrate all government services onto one platform with a better, more-consistent user experience. The Digital Platform Government initiative (Box 6.5) consolidates all Korea’s services onto a single platform, which will offer a tailored user experience based on user profile and needs. The platform leverages citizen data to provide a seamless experience with a single sign-on, and a simple and standardised UI. This unified platform will likely address the complication of over 670 government apps, which could confuse users who might not know where to go or how to access a service.
Korea's DPG initiative is a transformative strategy to modernise public administration by leveraging advanced digital technologies. It creates a unified digital infrastructure that enhances collaboration among citizens, business, and government agencies, based on four missions:
Citizen-centric government for integrated services on a unified platform focused on the life events of the users, enabling personalised and proactive service delivery
One-team government without silos among Ministries or between public and private sectors, driven by data, AI, and innovation
Public-private collaborative government that treats data and AI as strategic, nurturing the development of the technology industry, and expanding DPG to all levels of government
Trustworthy government that is transparent, secure, and reliable, including by strengthening citizens’ rights over their personal data, introducing new security systems, and improving the global competitiveness of Korea’s security industry
DPG is expected to integrate 1,500 types of public services into the existing portal and implement over 3,000 benefit-notification services. It removes the need to re-submit documents already accessible by agencies and introduces a MyData system to give individuals more control over their personal data.
In practice, it means users will have an enhanced, personalised experience accessing services through the GOV24 platform, with a UI tailored to their circumstances and proactive outreach as services become available. Users may also conduct public-service transactions through private-sector channels like NAVER and Kakao, delivering access to services through the channels users prefer (Box 6.7).
DPG is expected to deliver value by enhancing the efficiency, inclusiveness, and transparency of public services by delivering proactive, cost-effective digital solutions. It intends to support data-driven policy, foster innovation, grow the local industry, and ensure equitable access and development, positioning Korea strongly in secure, citizen-centric, digital governance.
For digital identity, the Korean government offers a federated, digital-authentication platform that allows citizens to use their choice of certified and secure, private, authentication solutions to access digital channels for public services. Looking ahead, it plans to introduce a single sign-on solution for public services on GOV24. Korea also has a Mobile Resident Registration Card, a digital credential with the same legal validity as the physical national ID card, and a “digital document wallet”, where citizens can store electronic documents needed to access public services (Box 6.6). This aligns with trends across OECD members to invest in digital credentials and wallets usable online and offline.
Korea implemented a robust digital-identity system as a cornerstone of its digital-government strategy, to enhance the security, efficiency, and accessibility of public services, leveraging private-sector solutions.
As of March 2025, all citizens can obtain a Mobile Resident Registration Card, a fully digital credential version of the national ID card. Issued via the GOV.KR portal or through local government offices, the mobile ID holds the same legal validity as a physical ID card and is accepted across a range of services, including public administration, financial institutions, and healthcare providers.
This digital credential leverages secure technologies to safeguard user data and ensure transaction integrity. In the event of identity theft or the loss of a physical card, the digital and physical ID can be deactivated instantly, reducing the risk of unauthorised use. Another feature is integration of a digital document wallet, enabling citizens to store and manage official certificates and electronic documents.
Strengthening Korea’s approach to digital identity is central to the Electronic Government Master Plan 2021-2025. By offering a secure and user-friendly identity infrastructure, the government is improving service delivery and promoting inclusion and digital participation across the population.
Source: (Government of Korea, 2024[25])
Korea established a strategic partnership with the private sector to diversify service delivery channels to meet users where they are (Box 6.7). The fact-finding interviews made clear that a key feature of Korea’s service delivery is integration with private-sector channels, namely NAVER and Kakao, which have strong uptake across the population to access private services. This is based on the integration with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to connect to services, allowing for convenience while minimising risks around data protection and cybersecurity – aligning closely with the government's digital platform initiative to enhance accessibility of services. The success of this approach is likely due to the role these platforms already held in Korean society, and users’ preference to engage with government services via private channels.
While this context might be unique to Korea and hard to replicate, it is an interesting example for other countries. As the use of private-sector delivery channels increases, it is important to assess and mitigate risks associated with dependence on these platforms, particularly regarding data security and service reliability. Governments’ approaches might mitigate much of the risk by linking services through APIs to minimise the data held on private platforms, and by maintaining the option to access services through an interface managed by the public administration – thus also maintaining service availability if other channels are disrupted.
The fact-finding interviews highlighted that these digital platforms are underpinned by infrastructure that must be reliable, secure, and scalable. The National Information Resources Service (NIRS) is working with MOIS to upgrade hardware, networks, and management tools to modernise Korea’s technology and enable migration to the cloud. A critical part of this is the construction of government data-centres, which ensure compliance with government requirements, cost-efficiencies with a reduced technology footprint, and job creation and local investment in target areas. These data-centres are available to the government’s main partners in the private sector, which helps ensure that companies holding or handling sensitive data do so in an environment that meets the government’s requirements for security, back-up, and redundancy, among others. With measures around sustainability and renewable energy, the data-centres reduce the environmental impact of Korea’s digital government, particularly as it prepares to make greater use of AI.
MOIS is opening Korea’s digital public services to support from the private sector, leveraging its strengths in improving user experience with tailored suggestions, a single location, and access to products or services with a single click (compared to the public sector, which often requires multiple transactions across agencies). Opening public services to private-sector channels enables a one-stop for integrated service – meeting users where they are and how which they prefer to access services.
The services are made open through a form of API linking private channels with public platforms, so that users can access services through websites or apps they are familiar with. Under this model, agencies develop and register specific service modules, which are then integrated into the private-sector platforms according to their chosen UX/UI.
In addition to improving the convenience of services and aligning with the needs and preferences of users, leveraging APIs in this way ensures that minimal data is stored on private-sector channels, minimising the risk of the misuse or leakage of private data. Furthermore, should a private-sector channel suffer disruption, access remains through the public sector’s platforms.
Through these private-sector channels, users already perform key government transactions, including retrieving and issuing e-certificates, checking and paying taxes, booking vehicle inspections, accessing customs information, booking public transport, and renewing their passports. MOIS aims to expand this approach to 220 services by 2026.
Source: Information presented to the OECD during the fact-finding interviews, June 2024.
The fact-finding interviews highlighted opportunities to strengthen Korea’s approach to delivering with impact, scale, and pace by addressing service integration, including with sub-national governments. The interviews found examples of isolated or inconsistent service delivery, which will be addressed by ongoing efforts towards service integration. While public institutions tend to align with the government’s emphasis on integrated service delivery, some instances were observed of public institutions wanting to preserve autonomy or maintain the solutions they have.
This applies predominately among local and metropolitan governments, which have varying levels of maturity but can sometimes move faster than central government agencies. This poses a risk because users often expect a seamless and consistent experience of government services, regardless which public institutions deliver them. While this risk will be mitigated through the Digital Government Platform initiative and the modernisation program of the Korea Local Information Research & Development Institute (KLID), the government will need to continue engaging public institutions for collaboration and alignment.
Denmark built one of the most co-ordinated digital public-administration systems among OECD countries by establishing structured collaboration between national, regional, and municipal governments. This multi-level governance model is anchored in formal partnerships between the central government, Local Government Denmark (KL), and Danish Regions, which jointly define and implement digital strategies. These eGovernment strategies prioritise improving digital services, enhancing administrative efficiency, and ensuring consistent service delivery across levels of government.
Notable initiatives include borger.dk, a portal that presents public information and self-service across national and local governments; MitID, the Danish digital ID that can be used for various purposes, including transferring money in online banking or logging into public self-service solutions; and NemHandel, a secure, standardised platform enabling digital invoicing and transactions between businesses and public authorities. Together, these efforts demonstrate Denmark’s commitment to citizen-centric services and seamless interoperability across administrative layers.
Norway adopts a similarly integrated approach through its National Joint Solutions initiative. This framework promotes the co-development of digital public infrastructure by national and sub-national governments, often in collaboration with non-governmental actors. By pooling expertise and resources, Norway ensures that digital services are interoperable, cost-effective, and tailored to local needs.
The initiative also supports long-term sustainability by aligning digital service development with broader public sector goals. This co-operative model enables all levels of government to share responsibility for planning, implementation, and governance of digital tools, reinforcing trust and accountability.
Denmark and Norway exemplify how structured, multi-level governance can enable more effective, responsive, and resilient digital public services.
The last fundamental pillar of the Good Practice Principles focuses on the ethical use of tools and data to strengthen public trust in digital public services, and enabling an environment where leadership, performance indicators, user-focused policies, and cross-sector collaboration join to promote inclusion, resilience, and continuous improvement. The Korean government promotes accountability, transparency, and ethical digital services, including through its use of the GOV24 platform for transparent service delivery and the protection of personal data, reporting on service performance, and implementation of ethical standards with its Digital Bill of Rights and Ethical Standards for AI.
First, GOV24 serves as Korea’s central digital platform for public-service delivery, ensuring transparency, ethical data use, and user accessibility. Established under the Electronic Government Act, the platform provides a unified interface where online and offline public services are catalogued and made accessible to citizens. It also facilitates a lifecycle-based approach to service provision, ensuring citizens can easily locate and access relevant services at each stage of life (Ministry of the Interior and Safety, GOV.KR[28]). To enhance openness and public accountability, MOIS operates GOV24 with the Integrated Information Disclosure System, which consolidates and publishes information shared across public institutions (Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 2025[29]).
Internally, the Information Resource Management System (IRMS) supports effective management of digital infrastructure by maintaining an inventory of information systems used across government (Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 2025[30]). This system prevents duplication, supports integration and interoperability, and provides detailed records of technical and security specifications. Role-based access controls are in place to ensure sensitive information is appropriately protected.
To uphold ethical standards and safeguard personal data (beyond what is described in Chapter 4), citizens need to provide informed consent when applying for services via GOV24. A “Consent to Use of Administrative Information and Personal Information” form outlines the specific data to be used and the purposes for which it will be processed. For example, in the integrated childbirth support service, called Happy Childbirth, users are informed that data such as the number of children or disability status will be used solely for eligibility assessment (Ministry of the Interior and Safety, 2025[31]). This approach ensures that Korea’s digital government services are integrated, transparent, and grounded in ethical practices.
The Korean government also takes measures to promote transparent reporting on the performance of its digital public services. The government runs the e-Government Service Usage Survey to collect data on service indicators such as awareness of digital government services, awareness channels, usage rate, usage purposes, frequency of use by purpose, access devices and channels, overall results by major websites, awareness by service category, usage rate by category, intention to use by category, and mobile application usage rate (National Information Society Agency, 2024[32]). This, along with other data collected, informs the development of the Publication of Performance Reports on IT Projects, which provides publicly available information on the operation of apps, information systems, and delivery of the IT Business Plan.
Another feature of Korea’s accountability in service design and delivery is the inclusion of clearly defined rights and ethical considerations. The Korean government leads in developing the Digital Bill of Rights (Charter on the Values and Principles for a Digital Society of Mutual Prosperity) to establish a global digital order grounded in shared values and ethical principles. It comprises a preamble and six chapters encompassing 28 articles, outlining comprehensive rights and responsibilities in the digital realm. The intent is to guarantee freedoms and rights for all individuals, promote fair competition and equal opportunities, ensure security and trust, foster digital innovation, and advance human well-being (Ministry of Science and ICT, 2023[33]; Ministry of Science and ICT, 2023[11]). Specific to AI, the Korean government developed ethical standards for the use of AI, and a strategy and action plan for the ethical and trustworthy use of AI. These measures help address the ethical and trustworthy use of digital public services.
As Korea looks for opportunities to strengthen accountability in service design and delivery, it could reinforce its enabling environment by incentivising adoption of shared digital platforms and continue the government’s efforts to drive the development and use of AI across the public administration.
While progress on shared digital infrastructure has been substantial, some areas require attention. Budget allocation should be prioritised to ensure that these platforms are sustainably funded. The OECD fact-finding interviews highlighted that current budget structures enforce a cap that limits the pace with which the government can explore and migrate to new technologies, especially given the rapidly developing technological environment in which countries find themselves. As discussed in Chapter 3, stakeholders believe more-flexible budget allocations would enable an environment that drives more-rapid digitalisation of Korea’s public administration. Additionally, structured incentives are needed to encourage wider adoption and integration of shared platforms.
The use of AI and data will enable continued evolution of Korea’s public-service delivery. This area is not lacking in Korea’s public sector but retains potential to drive more human-centred and proactive service delivery. The Korean government is already piloting an AI-powered telephone outreach system to identify and support vulnerable individuals more effectively (Box 6.9).
In 2023, MOIS launched a pilot initiative using AI to enhance early-detection and support for vulnerable populations. The solution uses an AI-based telephone monitoring system that automatically contacts individuals at potential risk, including elderly residents living alone, low-income households, and socially isolated individuals.
The pilot was run with the private sector, bringing NAVER and SKTelecom together with and four municipalities: Suwon, Bucheon, Jeonju, and Gyeongju. The pilot started by targeting 4,000 individuals and developing scripts for the AI solution to dialogue with individuals during welfare consultations.
Building on the pilot’s success, the programme expanded to 16 more municipalities in 2024. As the programme expanded, each municipality customised the AI solution to their welfare needs, such as monitoring seniors living alone, individuals who dropped out of welfare services, and other groups at risk of exclusion.
The system uses AI to conduct scheduled calls and analyse vocal cues, response patterns, and levels of engagement to assess well-being. Where concerns are identified, such as non-response or indications of distress, the system alerts local welfare teams for timely follow-up. This enables targeted, proactive intervention, reducing reliance on manual outreach while improving the precision and responsiveness of public-welfare services.
The initiative aligns with the Korean government’s Digital Platform Government, which seeks to modernise service delivery through data integration, intelligent automation, and citizen-centric design. Privacy safeguards are embedded through informed consent protocols and strict data-handling standards. The pilot also improves the effectiveness and efficiency of the public sector with:
proactive monitoring, enabling timely risk-identification and interventions by welfare officers
reduced administrative load, with automation to let staff focus on direct support
local adaptability, where municipalities tailor services to their demographic profiles and needs
data-driven decision-making, where AI-generated insights guide targeted welfare-outreach and resource allocation
This approach exemplifies how Korea leverages AI for administrative efficiency and to enhance equity, inclusion, and accessibility in social protection. It represents a scalable model for adaptive, tech-enabled welfare systems in an ageing and digitally connected society.
The OECD’s fact-finding interviews found strong interest and enthusiasm across the public sector for leveraging digital solutions to enhance service delivery. The interviews and survey findings show widespread use of data and automation to provide more seamless user experience by expediting processes and personalising services, such as by using mobile geolocation data, pre-filled fields, rule-based chatbots, and keyword searches.
This effort will be enhanced further as Korea explores how to augment its service delivery with AI solutions, particularly with Generative AI. The government could encourage public institutions to explore the use AI technologies to deliver better services, including through the dedicated funding and innovation projects mentioned in previous sections; developing specific guidance; and integrating this into the delivery of the Digital Platform Government initiative. In these ways, Korea could take full advantage of the potential of AI to create an even more proactive and human-centred services.
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