City of Seoul to implement blockchain in Citizen IDs

Park Won Soon, the mayor of Seoul who was participating in the Korea Future Forum 2019 discussed the importance of Smart Cities and technologies such as AI and Blockchain and IOT. He also mentioned that the future is for those who prepare themselves.

Seoul has already implemented blockchain for voting within the city as well as for used car information and sales. Queen.co.kr reported on this on May 20^th.  In the report Mayor Won Soon announced that Blockchain will be implemented in citizen cards, as a means to collect data and enable new services utilizing integrated authentication.

Park has expressed confidence about blockchain technology in the past. In late 2018, the mayor introduced a five-year plan for developing the blockchain industry in Seoul, with the city government planning to invest around $12 million into a $88 million blockchain fund.

In February 2019, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced an initiative to invest over $1 billion in blockchain and fintech startups by 2022.