South Korea’s blockchain-based national mobile digital identity system is not due to be fully operational until 2024, but it is already in use for credentials such as the mobile driving license (mDL) and people with a particular status in the country have digitized their national ID. The mDL alone acts as digital ID in a wide set of uses.

Young people acquiring credentials for the first time can go mobile from the outset and a legal instrument may accelerate the rollout of credentials across government.

Beom Soo Park, deputy director of Digital Safety & Security Policy Division of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety explained the system and its genesis to Biometric Update in Seoul. Answers were given through an interpreter.

Blockchain ecosystem already in first gear

Three-quarters of a million South Koreans already have a blockchain-based mDL on their phones, as of 30 November, after signing up in the first few months of the scheme originally piloted in January 2022. The Digital Safety division expects registrations to accelerate as awareness of the credential and its benefits grow.

Anyone passing their test for the first time now can choose to go digital only, or take the traditional route with the plastic card with an IC chip. The photocard license is the first step for them and all other Koreans in acquiring digital ID.

The system is free to use for citizens and relying parties (service providers) alike.

The process begins by a user requesting…