Customs, patent, health sites have best English

The Korea Customs Service was judged to provide the most convenient and accessible information on its Web site, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said yesterday. The top three government Web sites with the best English were judged to be the Korea Customs Service, the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The Government Administration Ministry and the JoongAng Ilbo have been jointly evaluating government Web sites since 2001. This year, the Korea Customs Service, the North Gyeongsang province municipal government, Kimhae government, North Jeju government and Jongno district government in Seoul received the highest scores among a total of 304 government offices including 54 central government departments. “The Web sites of Korea’s government administrative offices don’t fall behind the California’s state government Web site, which is considered the world’s best,” said Moon Hyung-nam, a professor at Sookmyung Women’s University, who led the evaluation team. “Korean government Web sites are getting better and better every year,” Mr. Moon added. The Korean government Web sites ranked the world’s fourth best last year in a United Nations evaluation. Web sites are judged by how properly managed the sites are rather than by a flamboyant appearance. In 2004, the evaluation was more based on ease of access to unique content. Last year, it was based on how the administrative office accepted the opinions of the residents and met requests. The customs service Web site was praised for providing various information including business plans and its budget status. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family provided a mobile service where the general public could receive, if it applied for the service, a press release, notification and policy data on mobile phones. In general, the Korean administrative government offices’ Web sites, including those of the municipal and district offices, averaged 78 points out of a total of 100 points. This is much higher than the 52 points in 2001. Yet the evaluation showed that there is still room for improving the English Web sites and the protection of private information. by Lee Hee-sung