Home News Categories Korea Insider Seoul’s Plans to Bring Blockchain to Citizens & Tourists

Seoul’s Plans to Bring Blockchain to Citizens & Tourists

Robin J. Wolf

May 21, 2019

301

Seoul Metropolitan Government’s embrace of blockchain technology continues.

In a congratulatory address to open the Korea Future Forum (KFF) 2019 & Blockchain Tech Show on Monday, Seoul mayor Park Won-soon revealed plans to develop thus far unseen administrative services (see Korean article here) by leveraging the city’s world-class ICT infrastructure to collect urban and administrative data and wed it to innovative technologies such as blockchain and AI. The challenge, he said, is to make Seoul the world’s greatest “smart city.”

The mayor boasted that his city was already offering blockchain-based administrative services, including a mobile voting system that uses blockchain to prevent vote fraud and an information transparency system for Seoul’s sprawling Janganpyeong used car market.

Park also said the city would implement a blockchain-based integrated authentication system into Seoul citizen cards so that city residents could more easily avail themselves on all sorts of administrative services.

This wasn’t the first time Park had mentioned adding blockchain-based authentication to citizen cards. He said the same thing – in almost the same exact words – at the 2019 BCS:Chain+ event.

Park didn’t mention who was involved in the ID card project. This publication would note, however, that ICON did demonstrate a blockchain-based ID card it developed in partnership with Seoul Metropolitan Government last year.

And in more Seoul-centered blockchain news, the home sharing DApp Wehome announced Monday it had signed an MOU with the city’s subway operator Seoul Metro and the blockchain developer Coinplug to develop a “smart tourism platform” focused on subway stations. The “Seoul Metro Stay” platform would combine subway fares with fees for home shares and tourist destinations located within five minutes of a subway station. It would also offer tourist information and other services. The platform will launch in June, beginning with five subway stations – Hongik University Station, Anguk Station, Itaewon Station, Myeongdong Station and Gangnam Station.

The plan is to expand the service to all of Seoul’s subway system and, in the long term, to broaden the service to include adding a blockchain-based payment system to MaaS, the city’s integrated transportation platform.