Increase of 28% in Civil Document Issuance via Government24 and Unmanned Issuance Machines Since COVID-19

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the issuance of civil complaint documents through non-face-to-face methods such as using computers or unmanned civil service issuance machines instead of visiting government offices' civil complaint desks or community service centers has increased significantly.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on the 5th, a total of 33,631,641 civil complaint documents were issued nationwide over the two months of February and March using Government24, unmanned civil service issuance machines, and electronic certificates, showing a 28.6% increase compared to the same period last year (26,162,279 documents).

In particular, with the implementation of proxy purchase of public masks on the 9th, the demand for identity verification documents surged, and the number of resident registration certificates issued through non-face-to-face services in March reached 5,105,716, a remarkable 52.8% increase compared to the same period last year.

Electronic certificates, which allow various certificates to be issued via smartphones and submitted to institutions, also increased more than 4.6 times in March compared to the previous month.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to improve related services to make them easier to use by different age groups and targets by removing various plugins from the Government24 homepage and diversifying certified authentication methods, as online and mobile civil complaint services continue to increase.

Additionally, the ministry will diversify payment methods for unmanned civil service issuance machines to enable smartphone payments and plans to expand the electronic certificate service, which currently supports only 13 types such as resident registration certificates, to 100 types within this year.

Lee Jeong-ryeol, Director of Public Service Policy at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "The spread of non-face-to-face civil complaint services using smartphones during the COVID-19 situation is a good example of our citizens practicing 'social distancing' in daily life," adding, "We will strive to further expand simple and safe civil complaint services in response to the active participation of the public."