South Korea aims to unify public and private data for AI development
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The National Data Agency in South Korea is restructuring the country's data administration to shift from simple statistical collection to a centralized coordination system for all government data.
The agency, which transitioned from the Statistics Korea only one year ago, is implementing a "hub and spoke" structure. Instead of gathering all information into one central location, the agency will act as a hub connecting various ministry data centers, such as tax, finance, and medical records, through a dedicated network.
This system aims to ensure that data remains interoperable across different sectors. To support artificial intelligence, the agency is building a knowledge map of metadata and ontologies. This infrastructure helps generative AI understand the context and standards of public data, which reduces the risk of incorrect information. The agency also plans to use homomorphic encryption, a security technology that allows for data analysis while the information remains encrypted. This method protects personal privacy even against potential threats from quantum computers.
The government is moving to pass the National Data Basic Act to remove barriers between public and private data usage. The agency has already included approximately 31.4 billion won in the 2027 budget to strengthen its data hub functions. Once the law is enacted, the agency plans to provide integrated data regarding the elderly, deceased individuals, and homeowners to help officials identify people in need of welfare more accurately.
