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| Minister of the Interior and Safety Jeon Hae-cheol shows mobile and plastic copies of his driver's license at Seobu Driver's License Examination Office in Mapo District, Seoul, Thursday. Korea started a pilot operation for mobile driver's licenses, which have the same legal equivalency as physical ones, Thursday. |
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Korea has launched a pilot program for a test mobile driver's license system, which has the same legal validity as a plastic card license, Thursday.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the National Police Agency announced the pilot program for driver's licenses to be available on mobile devices from select locations in order to help people verify their identities more conveniently in the digital era.
The mobile version of the driver's license has the same validity as the physical one, according to the Road Traffic Act. It can be used for identification at public institutions, banks, car rental agencies and stores for age verification.
During the pilot period, Seoul Seobu Driver's License Examination Office, Daejeon Driver's License Examination Office and 14 related police stations will issue mobile driver's licenses.
A mobile driver's license can be acquired by either replacing a current driver's license embedded with an IC chip and tagging it via a mobile driver's license application or by visiting the aforementioned designated sites to be issued a QR code for the license.
The digital license can be stored on only one device per person.
Foreign nationals who have resident cards and a Korean driver's licenses as well as a Korean mobile phone for certification are also eligible for a mobile driver's license.
Following the six-month pilot program, it is planned for the mobile driver's licenses to be issued in all areas of the country starting July.
