Worn Fingers from Hard Labor... "Fingerprint Recognition Fails" Pain

<중企 Ombudsman, Small Business Owners' Unmanned Civil Service Issuance Machine Identity Verification to Promote Mobile Alternative Authentication>

The "Senior Guide Assistant" (left) is helping a civil service applicant issue documents at the unmanned civil service issuance machine on the first floor of Yeongdeungpo-gu Office in Seoul.
[Photo by Asia Economy DB]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jong-hwa] Mr. A, who runs a restaurant in Seoul, struggles every time he visits the community service center to obtain documents such as a resident registration certificate or tax office documents. Having operated a restaurant for decades and frequently using his hands, his fingerprints have worn off. Despite repeatedly placing his worn fingers on the fingerprint scanner, identity verification failed, and Mr. A ultimately had to visit the civil service counter to obtain each document individually.

On the 24th, Park Ju-bong, Deputy Minister-level Small and Medium Business Ombudsman, visited Mapo-gu, Seoul, and held an on-site meeting with five representatives of small business owners and associations in the Seoul area to hear about such difficulties. Attendees included Kim Kyung-sook, Executive Director of the Small Enterprise and Market Service, Choi Jin-young, President of the Yeongdeungpo Small Business Federation, and Choi Young-san, President of the Seoul Small Business Association.

Choi Jin-young, President of the Yeongdeungpo Small Business Federation, expressed, "Small business owners in the restaurant and manufacturing sectors frequently use their hands, causing their fingerprints to wear off and disappear. Because of this, they cannot use unmanned counters for identity verification and must visit civil service counters at community centers and tax offices," highlighting the difficulties. He further suggested, "There is a need to expand authentication methods to include simple verification methods used recently on platforms like 'Government24' and 'Hometax.'"

Due to COVID-19, the use of unmanned civil document issuance machines has increased over the past three years for submitting documents related to various policy funds and disaster relief funds aimed at supporting small business owners. These unmanned machines are installed in district offices, community centers, subway stations, and tax offices, issuing 84 types of administrative documents such as resident registration certificates, business registration certificates, VAT standard certificates, and health insurance qualification certificates after verifying identity through resident registration numbers and fingerprints. Small business owners are requesting that these various certificates be issued through diverse authentication methods such as KakaoTalk, Payco, Samsung Pass, telecom company authentication, and bank certificates.

Jubong Park, Small and Medium Business Ombudsman (Vice Minister level).
[Photo by Small and Medium Business Ombudsman]

In response, Ombudsman Park said, "I want to first express my respect to small business owners who have built their stores despite their fingerprints wearing off," adding, "The Ministry of the Interior and Safety is preparing mobile alternative methods to resolve inconveniences such as fingerprint recognition failures on unmanned civil document issuance machines and is securing resources for inter-agency consultations and system construction." He also added, "We received a response that 318 types of certificates (including 368 types of subordinate certificates) issued by administrative and public institutions can be issued as electronic certificates via smartphones and can be conveniently submitted online to the desired institutions."

Kim Chang-seop, Director of the Baeknyeon Gage Cooperative Federation, stated, "Although there is a business succession system to support stable management activities of small and medium enterprises, it is difficult for small business owners to utilize it," lamenting, "In many cases, when a small business owner representative retires from management due to health reasons and their child attempts succession, it is difficult to succeed through gifting, so the parent's business registration is closed, and the child registers a new business." He then requested, "Please expand the application of the business succession system and business inheritance tax deduction from small and medium enterprises to include small business owners."

Regarding this, Ombudsman Park explained, "Small and medium enterprises include small enterprises, and small enterprises include small business owners, so if other conditions are met, small business owners can utilize the business inheritance tax deduction and special tax exemption for business succession gifting," adding, "There are cases where small business owners face difficulties because they are unaware of government policies or support eligibility, so I will request that the government provide more detailed guidance on related policies and systems."

Additionally, attendees raised various field difficulties, including △improving financial blind spots related to business transfer among co-representatives △the need for commission regulation between transportation platform franchisors and franchisees △and deregulation of urban-type small factory clusters (unregistered factories).

Ombudsman Park concluded, "I want to take this opportunity to offer comfort and applause to small business owners who have endured hardships over the past three years due to COVID-19 and other challenges," and promised, "In this triple-high (high interest rates, high prices, high exchange rates) economic situation, I will deeply discuss various requests and difficulties with relevant ministries to provide even a little support to our small business owners."