toclair@ittimes.co.kr
Information-Communication Minister Rho Jun-hyong announced at a briefing on July 23 that "for users' convenience and to respect the customers' right to choose, we decided to release the USIM card restriction. We will let you know the exact time and the process of its release in the near future." The government, however, is concerned that the release of the restriction will cause another issue of lost phones being able to be used by anyone who picks up the phone. As a resolution, the government will release the restriction, yet will leave it up to users to choose to lock their phone on their own.
USIM refers to Universal Subscriber Identity Module. By inserting this card in a 3G mobile phone, users can store user subscriber information, authentication information, text messages and phone book contacts. Although USIM cards have already been used overseas in countries such as the United States, Korean users have had to face the hassle of transferring phone book contacts when they decided to change phones. Text messages could not be transferred to new phones, and sometimes when the phone was broken not a single record could be transformed to a new device.
