Atotal of 352.8 billion won (US$384 million) - up 11.3% in comparison with last year, will be invested in national informatization next year in the hopes of concentrating investment in improving the quality of life.
The Federation of Korean Information Industries (www.fkii.org) announced that in 2008, an informatization propulsion plan will be implemented, and a scale of 8 major governmental ministries such as the Ministry of Planning and Budget, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (MCT), the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE), the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC), the Ministry of Labor, and the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
The main focus of next year's informatization project will be the investment scale of national informatization and basis informatization, which has increased. While investment scale of industry informatization and governmental informatization have remained at same level compared with last year, or they will diminish only slightly. Among them, the budget of national informatization has posted the largest increase amongst each part by increasing by 11.3% in comparison with last year. This is due to the aftermath such as the introduction of electronic passports, university informatization spread, and long-term pension schemes.
The operation activation facilitation of the governmental integration computerization center construction project which the government has driven forward over the past two to three years also deserves attention. To expand on this pan-governmental integration computerization center base facilities in the interests of managing and operating efficiently information resources within the government, a total of 161.0 billion won (US$180 million) was allocated. This is a closer examination of the informatization-related propulsion plan, period, budget and so on by each governmental ministry for next year.
Ministry of Planning and Budget
Next year's informatization budget by governmental ministries is invested intensively in national informatization sections, directly linked to the nation's convenience furtherance and quality of life improvement. The Ministry of Planning and Budget drew up next year's governmental ministry informatization budget as 3.4669 trillion won (US$3.8220 billion), up 1.7% on this year. The sector which shows the largest increase rate among informatization budget next year is national informatization, with 352.8 billion won (US$388.9 million), up 11.3%.
In the part of base informatization, a total of 161.0 billion won (US$177 million), up three times compared with this year, is invested for the sake of operation activation of a governmental integration computerization center. The government has been ambitiously driving this forward since three years ago.
Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development
The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MOE) begins by establishing education informatization in a three-stage development plan.
Next year's education informatization propulsion task consists of a total of 10 innovation tasks of six scopes in which a budget of a total of 24.313 billion won (US$26.8 million) will be invested. The project which will draw the largest budget among the simple scope is university informatization, with a support project carrying an 8.51 billion won (US$9.38 million)budget. In addition, for the e-learning globalization propulsion which will be invested in preparing, groundwork for overseas inroad centering around developing countries, elearning field potential market, a total of 2.51 billion won (US$2.77 million) will be spent.
Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs
Regarding the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs (MOGAHA) major informatization projects, there is egovernment project support, an administration information DB construction project, e-government security, e-government integration network construction management, e-government standardization system construction, and an informatization village formation. A total of 233.1 billion won (US$257.0 million) will be invested in these areas.
As to e-government project support, a budget of a total of 144.9 billion won (US$159.8 million) will be spent on a nextgeneration e-government preference propulsion task. For administration information, the DB construction project, which digitalizes major information of administration agencies, a total of 48.2 billion won (US$53.1 million) will be invested. With regard to base expansion projects such as e-government security, a budget of a total of 7.857 billion won (US$8.66 million) will be allocated for cyber security confrontation, administration e-signature expansion, and e-government representative portal operation.
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) has organized 20.888 billion won (US$23.03 million), up 19% in comparison with the preceding year, as the 2008 informatization budget. Online support service construction projects regarding factory establishment which require 400 million won (US$441,964) is to transact online related affairs from factory establishment application to the approval stage.
For e-business, early dissemination through e-business related technology development support whose national ripple effects are big, at 4 billion won (US$4.41 million) and 2.7 billion won (US$3.0 million) is used in e-commerce technology development and e-commerce facilitation. For e-trade activation too which innovates trade affairs processes by constructing Internet-based e trading platforms and boosts corporate trade competitiveness, 400 million won (US$441,964) will be added, plus the other patent information utilization system's consolidation project 59 billion won (US$65 million).
Ministry of Information and Communication
The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC)'s next year informatization budget scale is 186.4 billion won (US$205.5 million). The Ministry is slated to strengthen national participation through next year's informatization investment and support u-based administration service and real time administration transaction.
For postal service informatization, the MIC allocated 52.3 billion won (US$57.7 million) among which electronic settlements, ERP and MIC-NET's communication facilities improvement are planned. Among postal service informatization projects, a budget of 45.965 billion won (US$50.67 million) is set aside for the postal service, computerization equipment spread for system's stable operation, and Internet shopping malls.
Ministry of Cultureand Tourism
The culture informatization project's propulsion direction and goal is to actualize the digital culture welfare nation. In conjunction with this, a budget of a total of 21.1 billion won (US$23.3 million) is scheduled to be spent on in 21 projects, in six parts. For library informatization projects, which will be propelled with a total of three projects, such as library informatization projects, online digital resources collecting, and governmentestablished digital library integration system construction, 8.19 billion won (US$9.03 million), the largest budget among next year MCT information budget, will be used.
Ministry of Labor
The Ministry of Labor's projects next year carry out a budget of a total of 44.05 billion won (US$48.6 million) in a total of 31 projects of six parts. Among them, 22.58 billion won (US$24.9 million), 13.956 billion won (US$15.4 million), and 7.514 billion won (US$8.28 million) will be allocated for program development, hardware purchases, and package software purchases respectively.
Ministry of Health and Welfare
The Ministry of Health and Welfare's informatization budget has increased by 6.6% compared with 84.3 billion won (US$93.0 million) of the preceding year with 89.9 billion won (US$99.1 million).
