Starting in October, information on sex offenders will also be available through the National Assistant of the Ministry of Interior and Safety.
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced on September 9 that it will fully implement the addition of the National Assistant as a notification channel for sex offender information, alongside existing KakaoTalk and Naver electronic documents.
Currently, information on sex offenders is sent out approximately 6.5 million times a year to guardians of children and teenagers under 19 living in the same area as the offenders. This notification process began with postal mail in 2011 and has been gradually transitioning to mobile notifications since 2020.
The mobile notification viewing rate increased from 31% in 2022 to 49% last year. However, there have been instances where users mistook notification messages for spam or phishing, highlighting the need to expand notification channels.
In response, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family decided to add the National Assistant, which has about 18.2 million members, as a new notification channel. Users of the National Assistant can select the 'Sex Offender Information Notification' service in their notification settings to receive relevant information.
The notification system and the National Assistant will be connected using an Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) method, allowing for real-time sending and receipt confirmation. Given the sensitive nature of the personal information being transmitted, security measures such as encryption will also be implemented.
The Ministry plans to introduce the National Assistant service and registration menu on October 10 and will conduct a pilot operation in one administrative district. After assessing the system's stability and information delivery process during the pilot, full implementation will begin in October, with public promotion starting in November.
Kim Sung-cheol, Director of Safety and Human Rights Policy at the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, stated, "By adding a trusted channel that many citizens use, we aim to increase the reach of sex offender information and strengthen the safety net for guardians of children and teenagers."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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