Gov't eases digital authentication process to government websites for Koreans abroad

“For millions of Koreans living abroad, the digital link connecting them to their homeland has long been a source of bureaucratic frustration and unnecessary expense. To access essential government services, overseas Koreans were often forced to maintain a “ghost” mobile phone subscription in Korea or embark on daylong treks to the nearest consulate. That era of digital exile is ending. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Overseas Koreans Agency announced Wednesday the launch of the “Overseas Korean Certificate,” a digital authentication system that decouples government access from domestic telecommunications providers. The shift addresses a persistent hurdle in Korea’s highly digitized society: the “I-PIN” and carrier-based verification systems. Historically, accessing government portals required a one-time password sent to a Korean SIM card. For the roughly 2.4 million overseas Koreans with residency registration numbers, this necessitated paying monthly fees for “budget” phone plans they rarely used, solely to receive occasional text messages for identit

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