Information security tops agenda

Information security will be a new key objective of the Information Ministry, Minister Roh Jun-hyong said yesterday in a press conference explaining the ministry’s policies for this year. “Until now, Korea has been obsessed with becoming a leading country in terms of Internet connection and infrastructure, but Korea’s ‘rankings’ in information security are not as high,” said Mr. Roh, who was appointed to his post last month. He emphasized that laws protecting individual privacy must be passed. “There are three draft bills pending at the National Assembly. They must be passed so that we can set legal guidelines on protecting individuals’ private information and know what to do when individuals’ rights are violated,” he said. He noted that information security was not something that the Information Ministry could do on its own and required the joint efforts of various authorities, including legislators, the police and prosecutors. “Whether or not the National Assembly passes those laws, the ministry will develop plans on the technological side to deal with security problems,” he added. When asked how the ministry was approaching the implementation of radio frequency identification (RFID) chips in schools and government offices, Mr. Roh said that the introduction of these new services created problems that were not considered when the technology was initially developed and that the ministry is only testing the usage of RFID chips in certain areas. “But no number of legal restrictions will be the ultimate solution in ensuring information security. More important is to obtain a general understanding of the importance of private information,” Mr. Roh said. by Wohn Dong-hee