Future electronic resident cards causing a stir

The push for the adoption of a new electronic resident card in 2013 is expected to cause controversy. ID chips containing personal information are scheduled to be used in the new electronic resident cards. There are plans to eliminate content found on current resident registration cards, such as resident ID numbers and Hanja (Chinese characters) names.

However, there are concerns that personal information leaks may occur, and that the electronic resident card bill should be scrapped, Financial News reported. "No definite decisions have been made as to whether Hanja inscriptions and similar information will be completely eliminated," sources from the Ministry of Public Administration and Security said. "These can be stored on the IC chip, and various plans are under consideration." Additionally, beginning in 2012 new resident ID cards will contain a street name address, which is different than the current address system, following the government's decision to make this change.

The Kyung Hyang Newspaper reported that even families living in the same place can have different addresses, a potential problem. This is because people who don't replace their resident cards according to the phased introduction of electronic resident cards will keep their current address rather than use their new address.

Translated by Bret Chernoff