Illegal Posts Flood Social Networking Services
Ministry of the Interior and Safety: "Mobile ID Forgery Impossible Due to Encryption"
Recently, mobile resident registration cards have begun to be issued to citizens aged 17 and older, but posts offering to create forged mobile ID cards have been appearing one after another on social networking services (SNS), emerging as another social issue.
On the 5th, Yonhap News reported that searching for "mobile ID card creation" on X (formerly Twitter) yields dozens of related posts. One account wrote, "If you pay 30,000 won upfront and send a photo along with the desired date of birth and alias, we will create a mobile ID card within 2 minutes," adding, "We will also explain how to use the QR code that must be presented when buying alcohol or cigarettes at convenience stores." Another account named "Mobile ID Card Creation Shop" said, "We create mobile resident IDs that can be used at bars and convenience stores," and "If you want, we can send a sample as well." Posts with hashtags like 'minjeungwijjo' (ID forgery) or 'minjeungjejak' (ID creation) have recorded hundreds of views.
At the end of 2023, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety found 158 accounts on SNS that were selling forged versions of the 'Resident Registration Card Mobile Verification Service' and referred them to the police for investigation after self-employed business owners suffered damages such as business suspensions for selling alcohol or cigarettes to minors who used the forged service.
However, as the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has recently started issuing mobile resident registration cards following mobile driver’s licenses and mobile overseas Korean ID cards, there are calls to further strengthen security against forgery and tampering. According to the Resident Registration Act, forgery or alteration of resident registration cards is punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won, and this applies equally to mobile ID cards.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety stated that it is impossible to forge or alter mobile ID cards equipped with the latest security systems. A ministry official explained to Yonhap News, "Mobile ID cards are developed using blockchain and the latest encryption technology, making them highly secure and impossible to forge or alter," adding, "Since the mobile driver’s license service began in 2022, over 4 million have been issued with no cases of forgery or alteration." The official also noted, "We recently collaborated with the Small Enterprise and Market Service to guide small business owners on how to verify mobile ID cards and produced related promotional materials."
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