Renowned as the first country in the world to transition itself from an aid recipient to a donor, the Republic of Korea has achieved unprecedented growth. Its development experiences are to be shared with Latin America, especially in the areas of public security and e-government. The Korean e-government ranked first in the UN E-Government Survey for three consecutive times.

Minister Chong, Jong-sup of Government Administration and Home Affairs paid a visit to Colombia and Peru from April 17 to 20, and promoted stronger bilateral cooperation in public security and e-government.

With its rich natural resources and a young population, Latin America is growing rapidly. High economic growth raised the demand for high-quality public services.

In this regard, with the presence of the Presidents, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) signed a memorandum of understanding for public security with Colombia and a memorandum of understanding for e-government with Peru.

On April 17, the MOU for public security was signed with the Ministry of National Defense of Colombia. As the two countries strengthen cooperation in public security, it is expected to better protect Korean immigrants in Colombia and promote Korea’s advanced police systems for cyber crime investigation and crime reporting.

Moving on to Peru, on April 20, Minister Chong signed the MOU for e-government with the Prime Minister’s Office of Peru. Even before the signing of the MOU, the Korean government had cooperated with Peru in establishing its master plan for the development of e-government and adopting Korean e-government systems such as customs e-clearance system, e-patent system, and automated immigration system. The newly signed MOU is expected to give impetus to Korean businesses that participate in the civil service modernization project of the Peruvian government.

The civil service modernization project was launched in Peru to improve the efficiency of public administration. Among many programs conducted under the modernization project, the immigration modernization program of the Peruvian Immigration Office and the criminal justice system modernization program of the Peruvian Ministry of Justice and Human Rights are the two programs where the government of Peru has consistently requested Korea to share its relevant experiences.

In response to the request, the MOGAHA co-hosted the Korea-Peru high-level cooperation forum for e-government on April 20 with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights of Peru and introduced the criminal justice information system of the Korean Ministry of Justice as well as the immigration system. About 100 high-level officials including five ministers or vice ministers showed up at the forum, attesting to Peru’s strong interest in Korea’s e-government systems. Among Korean participants were people from the Korea Immigration Service and the office of criminal justice information system, as well as related businesses which showcased cutting-edge technologies.

After the forum, Minister Chong had a bilateral meeting, respectively with the Secretary General of the Prime Minister’s Office and the Minster of Justice and Human Rights, discussing ways to strengthen their cooperation. He proudly talked about Korea’s immigration service, which partly made it possible for the Incheon International Airport to remain as the best airport for ten consecutive years, and the world’s first criminal justice information system in Korea, reiterating, “The development of e-government might be the most important goal, as well as means, for government innovation efforts in Peru.”

In response, Minister Gustavo Olaya of Justice and Human Rights of Peru expressed his great interest in adopting the Korean criminal justice information system, saying, “The Korean model best suits the ideal criminal justice system that the Peruvian government seeks.”

Minister Chong stated, “In line with the 2014 ASEAN-Republic of Korea Ministerial Roundtable and Exhibition on Public Governance and the 2015 Africa-Republic of Korea Ministerial Meeting, my visit to Latin America is part of the government efforts to promote Korea’s well-developed government programs in the world.” He then continued, “I hope Latin America would take another leap forward with Korea’s advanced public administration systems, such as e-government.”