Mobile driver’s license to be tested from January

A mobile driver’s license will be introduced on a trial basis from January next year. Holders of a driver’s license will be able to open a bank account and validate their identity at a government office with their digital driver’s license.

The government announced the plan at a meeting on review of the Korean New Deal, which was presided over by Lee Eok-won, second vice minister of economy and finance, at the Government Complex Seoul on Friday. “We will conduct a pilot project to introduce a mobile driver’s license beginning with two to three regions from January next year, Social distancing level 4 extended before expanding the system to cover the entire population,” Lee said. “The mobile driver’s license will allow the holder to use at government offices and bank branches as if it is an actual driver’s license, and utilize it to receive diverse online services including mobile banking service.”

The government is pushing to conduct the mobile driver’s license project to prevent information from the plastic ID card from being disclosed and to curb forging and falsifying of an official ID card. As the first project, a mobile ID card for government employees was introduced last January.

A holder of the driver’s license must visit the driver’s license test site in person when applying for a mobile driver’s license for the first time. When seeking to get the mobile license reissued due to switching of the mobile phone and loss of the digital license, he or she can get the mobile license reissued digitally by using a mobile app. Even after getting a mobile license issued, a driver’s license holder can use the original plastic license as well.


woo@donga.com