Korea to Lead a Global Standard for Digital Government

During the D5 Summit held in Tallinn, Estonia on November 20, Korea was selected, with strong support from the D5 members, as the host and chair of the D5 Summit of the next year.

D5 stands for Digital-5, and it was established in 2014 with its five founding members-namely Estonia, Israel, Korea, New Zealand, and the UK. The member countries share best practices and policies and conduct joint studies on digital government.

In the D5 steering group meeting held a day earlier on November 19, the Korean delegation brought up a new agenda and suggested that the D5 members share their experiences with developing countries and build a global standard for model digital government, drawing attention and support from the other D5 members.

Later that day at the welcome reception hosted by President Thomas Hendrik Ilves of Estonia, Minister Chong, Jong-sup of the Interior of the Republic of Korea discussed with the President the importance of personal data protection and cyber security and agreed with him that Korea and Estonia should maintain close bilateral cooperation in the areas of their common interest. As a leading country in digital government and the first place winner in the UN E-Government Survey for three consecutive terms, Korea basked in the limelight among participants of the D5 Summit.

The two-day programme of the D5 Summit in Tallinn included various formats of discussions including bilateral meetings between ministers, a working-level steering group meeting, and thematic discussions. Throughout the discussions, participants reached a consensus on many issues such as open data, user needs, tailored government portal, and online privacy and promised to work on practical projects in the areas of common interest.

In the plenary session of the D5 Summit held on November 20, Korea was the first among the members to deliver its country presentation themed on Korea’s government innovation paradigm called Government 3.0, which was given high marks by the Estonian press media as well as the participating countries. Among the heads of delegations from the five member countries, Minister Chong was the only one who was featured in an individual interview with the Estonian newspaper publisher Postimees, proving the international reputation of the country in the field of digital government.

“It is a great honor to invite leading digital governments and host the D5 Summit next year in Korea,” Minister Chong said. “As a dialogue of leading digital governments, the D5 will continue to share experiences in the area of digital government, and Korea in particular will lead the discussion on setting up a global model for digital government to help developing countries not to repeat mistakes or failures of the past.”