'Protecting Overseas Koreans Now with Big Data'... Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of the Interior Sign Business Agreement

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 3rd that they will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for big data analysis cooperation in the diplomatic field, including the protection of overseas Koreans.

This MOU is part of efforts to establish a mid- to long-term cooperative relationship to revitalize scientific administration in the diplomatic field by integrating big data and artificial intelligence technologies on major diplomatic issues such as the protection of overseas Koreans, aiming to perform more effective diplomacy based on data.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety have so far collaborated on big data analysis to predict the risk levels of incidents and accidents involving overseas Koreans by country and month.

This analysis combined incident and accident data of overseas Koreans with political, economic, and tourism infrastructure indicators of each country to predict risk levels for the top 50 countries with the highest incidents and accidents. Among the political and economic indicators of each country, unemployment rate and political stability were found to be correlated with incidents involving overseas Koreans.

Going forward, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety plan to actively utilize big data analysis in policy formulation for the protection of overseas Koreans.

First, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will advance the predictive analysis of incident and accident risks involving overseas Koreans, and based on this, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to use it to provide customized safety information to Koreans residing abroad.

Additionally, in response to the global spread and prolongation of COVID-19 this year, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety will analyze the trends of COVID-19 spread in each country, the level of medical infrastructure, and the age groups of overseas Koreans, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs plans to utilize this data in formulating post-COVID protection policies for overseas Koreans.

Lee Tae-ho, Second Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, said, "With the enforcement of the Consular Assistance Act in January next year, the scope of protection for overseas Koreans in the post-COVID era is expected to expand further, and through the signing of the MOU with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety for the use of big data and AI technologies, we hope to contribute to the establishment of more effective policies for the protection of overseas Koreans."

Yoon Jong-in, Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, stated, "With the passage of the Data-Based Administration Act in the National Assembly, conditions for joint data use among public institutions have been established, and data-driven scientific administration is expected to be established in all areas of the government," adding, "Through this MOU, we hope to build a practical cooperative relationship that will serve as an opportunity to greatly enhance the safety of overseas Koreans in the future."