Seo Eun-hee, Seocho District Mayor, Draws Attention with Proposal to Upgrade Democracy Using Blockchain

At the Mokmingwan Club 10th Anniversary International Forum, Proposals for 'Direct Democracy' in the Digital Age... Blockchain Ensuring 'Transparency, Reliability, Security' Can Resolve Concerns of Hacking, Privacy, and Centralized Monopoly in Online Voting

Jo Eun-hee, Seocho District Mayor

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Seocho-gu proposed on the 10th to "utilize blockchain technology so that any citizen can easily suggest their opinions."

On this day, Jo Eun-hee, the mayor of Seocho-gu, who participated in the Mokmingwan Club's 10th anniversary international forum, said, "Democracy must also evolve in the rapidly changing modern society, including COVID-19 and the 4th Industrial Revolution."

At the forum held via online live broadcast, Mayor Jo was the first discussant and gave a presentation on the topic of "Citizen Participation and the Future of Direct Democracy for the Development of Local Autonomy."

The Mokmingwan Club is a cross-partisan gathering of heads of parties and independent organizations that regularly hold forums to jointly develop new policy ideas and propose local agendas necessary for revitalizing regional projects. It is a meeting of "grassroots democracy practicing innovative local government heads."

Mayor Jo explained blockchain technology as ▲ overcoming spatial limitations and enabling real-time communication ▲ designed so that all participants have equal authority ▲ a technology that ensures transparency, reliability, and security.

The biggest concerns when making online policy proposals and voting are "the risk of hacking, exposure of personal information, and central monopoly," but blockchain is a technology that can overcome these, and thus blockchain is the most suitable technology to upgrade democracy, she announced.

The district is currently making multifaceted efforts to realize direct democracy, such as the "Eunhee's Direct Line" for communication with the mayor so residents can directly voice their opinions on policies, "On-site Communication Talk" where residents meet and talk directly, and the nation's largest "5 billion won resident participatory budget" allocated by residents' will.

Going forward, Seocho-gu plans to actively introduce blockchain to prevent security breaches and forgery, thereby realizing Seocho-type direct democracy that everyone can trust. To this end, various projects such as a blockchain academy integrating blockchain and administration and a smart senior project will be promoted.

The district has been nurturing blockchain experts by opening the "Blockchain Academy" course in collaboration with KAIST for the first time nationwide to train professionals. So far, Seocho-gu has produced a total of 399 experts, contributing to the creation of new jobs.

In addition, to supplement the "digital divide" that may occur when applying blockchain, the concept of "digital welfare" has been introduced, operating ▲ AI utilization, coding, and one-person media education for middle-aged and older adults ▲ digital technology education on artificial intelligence and robots for youth.

They are also actively supporting digital learning devices by expanding the installation of "LoRaWAN" and "Wi-Fi."

Jo Eun-hee, mayor of Seocho-gu, said, "With the introduction of a new concept of democracy using blockchain that guarantees transparency and reliability, opportunities for residents' policy participation can be further expanded," and added, "I hope Seocho's efforts for direct democracy will become a foundation that can spread throughout the Republic of Korea."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.