Improved Accessibility Makes Unmanned Civil Service Kiosks Easier to Use for Disabled and Elderly People

Expansion of Standard Specifications for Unmanned Civil Service Issuance Machines from 5 to 7 Mandatory Types

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] It will become easier for people with disabilities who use wheelchairs and elderly people with weakened eyesight due to presbyopia to use unmanned civil service issuance machines.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 9th that it will revise the "Standard Specifications for Unmanned Civil Service Issuance Machines (KIOSK) for Administrative Information Processing" to make it easier for people with disabilities and the elderly to access and use unmanned civil service issuance machines.

According to the Ministry, the number of issuances per unmanned civil service issuance machine from January to September this year was 6,409, an increase of 10.9% compared to 5,778 during the same period last year. In particular, since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the Ministry explained that the use of unmanned civil service issuance machines installed not only at eup/myeon/dong community service centers but also at railway stations, terminals, banks, and hospitals to issue civil documents such as resident registration certificates, family relation certificates, etc., has increased.

The revised standard specifications focus on improving accessibility by enhancing convenience features for people with disabilities and the elderly.

First, two additional mandatory specifications will be added to the current five mandatory specifications?disability keypad, voice guidance for the visually impaired, message guidance for the hearing impaired, braille labels, and earphone sockets?to include screen magnification functions for the visually impaired and elderly, and operation convenience features for wheelchair users by lowering the height to 1220 mm, expanding the mandatory specifications to seven.

Additionally, a voice recognition function will be added as an optional specification, allowing users to apply for civil documents by voice without operating the touchscreen buttons.

The currently optional credit (debit) card payment function will be made mandatory, and a mobile simple payment function will be added as an optional specification to facilitate payment of issuance fees.

Furthermore, to prevent cross-infection that may occur in unmanned civil service issuance machines used by multiple civil petitioners, non-contact touchscreen functions, NFC (Near Field Communication), and QR code readers will also be added as optional data communication functions.

The revised standard specifications will be implemented from July 1 next year, considering the time required for product development and performance evaluation.

Han Chang-seop, Director of Government Innovation Organization at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said, "We will make unmanned civil service issuance machines convenient to use regardless of disability or age," adding, "Furthermore, we will increase the currently provided 90 types of issuance services so that civil documents can be easily issued."

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