Kang Dohyun, 2nd Vice Minister, "Comprehensive Review of National Certification System for SaaS Business"

On-site Meeting on the 5th... 2nd Vice Minister of Science and Technology Visits SaaS Companies
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Deputy Minister Kang Dohyun stated that he would "reconsider" the national certification procedures and costs that are acting as obstacles to the activation of the Software as a Service (SaaS) business.

On the 5th, Kang Do-hyun, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, held an on-site meeting at the Eulji Building of ICT company Douzone Bizon under the theme "AI Everyday Life, Software is Now SaaS"/Photo by Hwang Seo-yul chestnut@

On the 5th, at an on-site meeting held at the Eulji building of ICT company Douzone Bizon under the theme "AI Everyday Life, Software (SW) is Now SaaS," Deputy Minister Kang conveyed this message. This was in response to SaaS companies participating in the meeting pointing out the national certification procedures and cost burdens as reasons for the slow commercialization and activation of SaaS businesses.

Choi Yujin, CEO of Classum, said, “The reason why the adoption pattern of business-to-business (B2B) SaaS is not clear in Korea is that GS certification must be obtained every time a version is updated,” adding, “For B2B services, updates aligned with trends are important, but the situation requires continuous certification procedures.” GS certification is a national quality certification system that evaluates software’s functional suitability, performance efficiency, usability, reliability, and security, in accordance with ISO international standards.

There were also calls for improvements regarding the Cloud Service Security Authentication (CSAP) procedures and costs certified by the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA). Jeon Kyunghun, CEO of Synapsoft, said, “CSAP certification is necessary and important, but there is a severe backlog at KISA,” adding, “We tried to conduct a pilot project without CSAP certification, but it was halted because certification from the National Intelligence Service was required.” He urged for solutions, saying, “If the certification procedures are not eased, supply of (services) may become difficult.” Song Hochul, CEO of Douzone Bizon’s Platform Business Division, pointed out the problem of high certification costs, saying, “CSAP costs are in the tens of millions of won.”

On the 5th, Kim Dong-hwan, CEO of Forty2Maru, is speaking at an on-site meeting held by the Ministry of Science and ICT. Photo by Hwang Seo-yul chestnut@

There were also voices calling for improvements to the strategic materials export control system. The strategic materials export control system prohibits the export of materials that could potentially be used for weapons to countries that may manufacture weapons. Kim Donghwan, CEO of FortyTwoMaru, said, “Even if security systems are well established, strategic materials exports can be restricted, and many companies are unaware of this,” adding, “I understand that research and development (R&D) is also subject to strategic export restrictions, and the dual punishment regulation applies, meaning not only companies but also responsible personnel can be punished.”

In addition, discussions were held on the need for support measures to secure references from public and private companies for overseas expansion, and the establishment of learning programs for SaaS company founders.

Deputy Minister Kang said, “I understand that efforts are being made to improve institutional requirements such as domestic company certifications,” adding, “We will ensure that software policies align with SaaS policies and will review the points you mentioned once again.”