Innovative "e-Government U-Gallery" with interactive screen With its "e-Government UGallery" at the Busan 2005 APEC IT exhibition, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) is demonstrating that it supports the export of Korea's advanced e-Government system, in addition to boosting global awareness of it. Notably, as the Ministry is planning to showcase the present status of Korea's e- Government with exhibition contents such as Informatization village, Harmony (MOGAHA's administration innovation system), procurement administration, patent plus IT S/W and Kiosk etc. by using 3D Interactive Contents, the Korea e- Government pavilion booth promised to draw strong interest among member economies' participants as well as global CEOs. Director-General Kim Nam-Seok of e- Government, MOGAHA, explained in an interview with the Korea IT Times that the basic format of the Korea@Government booth is designed to display Korea's superb IT technology and e-Government's results. In particular, @Government pavilion's entire exhibition concept is the "e- Government U-Gallery" which used Interactive cutting- edge screen. Through this e- Government U-Gallery, Kim said that MOGAHA is eager to show foreign participants four outstanding systems such as the Harmony System (integrated administration innovation system), Informatization Village project, our country's patent system as well as our procurement system and so forth. First off, MOGAHA's Harmony System is an integration administration system which allows customer and performance management as well as compensation to be linked automatically. In the case of the Informatization Village project, a total of 191 Informatization villages are being formed at the moment. Kim pointed out that even overseas IT businesses such as Intel and HP etc. are praising this Informatization Village as a good model for rural community informatization business and as something that is setting an unprecedented example to the world. As to the patent administration informatization system, Korea's online electronic submission rate is the highest in the world with 96 percent, paving the way for the era of full-scale home submissions with the electronic submission system based on the Internet for the first time in the world. Besides these three systems, MOGAHA is to showcase Korea's electronic procurement system, which raised the electronic government level one notch higher after receiving the "Public Service Award" (2003) as well as the "World Best Practice Model" assessment award in the electronic procurement field from the UN. Through the APEC IT exhibition pavilion, Kim underscores that MOGAHA will show each of the member economies, entrepreneurs, and visitors, the huge potential of Korea@Government which is taking the lead in realizing Korea's Ubiquitous e-Government. It is also the prime mover of new government value creation in which anyone can take part for the government's policy establishment while using the government's service anytime and anywhere. In addition by introducing MOGAHA's integrated administration innovation system (Harmony), the Ministry is planning to unfold full-scale marketing activities of a superior administration affairs system to each member economy. Stage of a complete integration transaction Concerning Korea's e-Government level, Kim rated Korea as entering the stage of a complete integration transaction, either in terms of e-Government completion degree or in terms of the level of electronic information exchanges among institutions, as well as between nations. As of 2004, Korea was ranked fifth globally in an electronic government index assessment by international organizations such as the UN and OECD. Meanwhile, political leaders worldwide are endeavoring to boost their e-Government level, placing e-Government as the top priority on their national administration agenda, according to Kim. With this APEC 2005 IT exhibition as an impetus, the director-general, a veteran of administration innovation, says: "MOGAHA will pave the way fully for boosting the export of our e-Government system." He further added that MOGAHA has been preparing multi-faceted support measures such as international conference hosting as well as participation, and collaboration projects between governments to publicize Korea's e- Government construction experience as well as excellence and to investigate excellent examples of other countries. Citing some of Korea's overseas inroads in e-Government in the meanwhile, the director-general mentioned advanced negotiations with Lithuania, a strategic market in Eastern Europe, the Mongolian e-Government masterplan establishment business MOU agreement, a potential market, Cambodia administration network project ($26M)'s successful completion, Seoul City's informatization consulting business with Japan local autonomous entities as well as Hanoi in Vietnam, informatization technology consulting for Thailand, Peru & Vietnam Intellectual Property Offices, international patent electronic receipt system's overseas export to seven countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, India, Israel, Iraq, Singapore, and Finland and joint cooperation MOU conclusion with Vietnam and Pakistan for the policy export of Korea's electronic procurement system. Five performance tasks progressing as planned In conjunction with his role as well as business propulsion plan as the Director General of e-Government, MOGAHA, Kim stresses that he would like to boost Korea's role as a leading global player in the e-Government sphere by consolidating Korea's e-Government promotion strategy and by acquainting the international community with Korea's e-Government vision and performance. In regard to business goals, as well as its strategy of an e-Government headquarters, Kim notes that five performance tasks are progressing as planned, including reconsolidating its e- Government promotion strategy reconsolidation, Ubiquitous-oriented electronic Civil Service enlargement, conversion into an online handling system of governmental affairs, administration information resources management system construction, and embodiment of a safe e- Government.