Jeon Hae-cheol Conducts On-site Inspection of 'COVID-19 Coexistence National Support Fund' System Construction... First Visit to National Information Resources Service

Request for Focused Efforts on Stabilizing the Vaccine Appointment System and Related Capabilities

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] Jeon Hae-cheol, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, visited the National Information Resources Service Agency, the government-integrated data center, on the 3rd to inspect the site including the construction status of the ‘COVID-19 Coexistence National Support Fund’ payment system and to encourage the staff.

The National Information Resources Service Agency is a data center that manages information resources for major national institution services such as Government24 and Hometax. Currently, two centers are operating in Daejeon and Gwangju, and the Daegu Center and Gongju Center are scheduled to start services in the future.

During the visit, Minister Jeon focused on inspecting the construction status of the National Support Fund payment system following the confirmation of the ‘COVID-19 Coexistence National Support Fund’ payment last week. The National Support Fund payment system is being built with the goal of launching the service by the end of August. Based on last year’s experience in building the ‘Nationwide Emergency Disaster Support Fund Payment System,’ the National Information Resources Service Agency is working to build the system quickly and without any setbacks this time as well.

Minister Jeon urged the rapid and stable construction and operation of the system so that the support funds can be paid to the public in a timely manner. In addition, with COVID-19 vaccination reservations for those under 40 approaching, he emphasized the active technical support of the National Information Resources Service Agency to prevent the public from experiencing inconvenience again due to connection delays like last time.

Minister Jeon also emphasized the importance of foundational infrastructure that can support the administrative environment as the work environment in the public sector has shifted to non-face-to-face methods such as telecommuting and video conferencing due to the spread of COVID-19. In fact, the government’s telecommuting and video conferencing systems have seen more than a fivefold increase in users compared to before COVID-19, and the National Information Resources Service Agency contributed to minimizing administrative work gaps through proactive responses such as resource expansion and convenience improvements.

Meanwhile, Minister Jeon also inspected the progress of major tasks of the National Information Resources Service Agency, including the government service cloud transition, the construction of the Daegu and Gongju Centers, and the artificial intelligence cyber security system, and encouraged the related personnel. Since 2013, the National Information Resources Service Agency has been transitioning the information systems of central government ministries to the cloud to efficiently respond to diverse public demands and provide stable services to the public. Next year, the Daegu Center dedicated to cloud services accommodating public institutions will start, and in 2023, the Gongju Center dedicated to disaster recovery and backup will begin service, completing the four-center system of Daejeon, Gwangju, Daegu, and Gongju.

Additionally, to overcome the limitations of the existing security system that relies on human analytical capabilities, the agency has developed the world’s first artificial intelligence-based security system and is currently piloting it, with plans to fully apply it to the four centers by 2023.

Minister Jeon said, “The National Information Resources Service Agency is playing an important role in responding to the COVID-19 crisis based on world-class IT infrastructure and technological capabilities, including building the ‘COVID-19 Coexistence National Support Fund’ system and stabilizing the ‘Vaccine Reservation System.’” He added, “I hope the agency will continue to strive so that our government can lead digital government innovation in the post-COVID era in step with the rapidly changing global IT environment.”