South Korean Drivers to Have Digital Driver’s Licence on Their Smartphone

South Korean drivers will soon be able to have a digital driver's licence on their smartphone.

The Korean National Police Agency and the country's three main mobile operators have joined forces to develop a digital driver's licence service, using the self-certification app PASS, which which is currently used to verify mobile financial transactions and has 25 million users.

PASS subscribers will be able to register their driver's licence on the app and receive a barcode or QR code for verification purposes. The police would be willing to accept the digital licence as a legal form of ID and are working with the telcos to link their (telcos) PASS database to the police driver's licence register.

The telcos won't store the users' data related to the driver's license, instead managing a minimal amount of data that will be encrypted using a blockchain.

The South Korean Ministry of Science and ICT has given permission to trial the project under a sandbox program. It's expected the trial will be as successful as those in the United States and Australia, where the mobile driver's licence has been introduced as a commercial service or pilot project and is being seen as an alternative to a real driver's license.

If all goes to plan, the South Korean digital licence will become available in early 2020.

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