Minister Im Hye-sook: "Busan is the Optimal Place for the Emergence of Blockchain Services"

Visit to Busan Blockchain Regulatory Free Zone
Linking Blockchain with Industry Utilization
"Time to Unite Academia, Industry, and Government" Urged
Also Visited BP&Solution Demonstration Site

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] "Busan, home to the country's largest port, is the optimal place for various blockchain services to emerge."

On the 16th, Minister Hyesook Lim of the Ministry of Science and ICT made this statement during a visit to the Busan Blockchain Regulatory Sandbox Zone as part of the Digital New Deal regional field tour.

Minister Lim said, "To achieve this, it is more important than anything else to secure core blockchain foundational technologies early and link them so that the industry can utilize them," adding, "It is time for academia, industry, research, and government to unite their efforts to discover successful cases where the public can feel the benefits of blockchain."

On the same day, Minister Lim announced plans to launch a large-scale technology development (R&D) project and listened to on-site opinions regarding blockchain technology advancement and industry promotion measures. She also visited BP&Solution, which is conducting the blockchain regulatory sandbox project under the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, to inspect the demonstration site of the blockchain-based smart logistics platform service.

BP&Solution's demonstration project aims to build an advanced logistics environment that integrates cold chain technology necessary for fresh product delivery with Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technologies. The plan is to establish a platform capable of preventing tampering with real-time temperature and history data and enabling distribution and history management.

At the briefing session that day, keynote speeches on blockchain technology and development prospects, discussions on regional blockchain expansion and linkage plans with the regulatory sandbox, and presentations of research content by project-performing organizations were also conducted.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Science and ICT has allocated a total budget of 113.3 billion KRW for blockchain technology development projects for the Digital New Deal from 2021 to 2025. This includes 91.6 billion KRW in government funds and 21.7 billion KRW in private investment. Nine tasks across four major areas?consensus technology, smart contract security technology, personal information processing and identity management technology, and data management technology?will be pursued.