Statistics Korea Holds Regional Statistics Development Forum: "Standardizing Statistics for Local Autonomy Advancement"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] On the 29th, Statistics Korea held the '3rd Regional Statistics Development Forum' at the Daejeon ICC Hotel and discussed ways to develop regional statistics, which form the foundation of local autonomy. A roadmap including data standardization and strengthening the functions of an integrated platform was also presented.

About 50 officials from more than 20 organizations, including local governments, research institutes, and universities, attended the forum. In his opening remarks, Choi Yeon-ok, Director of the Survey Management Bureau at Statistics Korea, said, "For the maturity and development of local autonomy, it is important to have decision-making for reasonable regional policy establishment and high public trust in policies," adding, "The beginning of this is reliable regional statistics." He emphasized, "All statistical production agencies must continuously strive to produce accurate and timely regional statistics and improve their quality."

Moon Sook-kyung, Chairperson of the Regional Statistics Subcommittee of the National Statistical Commission, presented the future development of regional statistics represented by artificial intelligence (AI) and big data in her keynote speech titled 'The Present and Future of Regional Statistics.' She proposed a roadmap including data standardization, communication between regions and institutions, strengthening integrated platform functions, and sharing computing resources.

In the expert session, there were thematic presentations by regional research institutes on 'Measures to Activate the Policy Use of Regional Statistics' and case presentations by local governments. In the comprehensive discussion, university professors, regional researchers, and local government statistics officers engaged in in-depth discussions on 'Measures for the Development and Activation of Regional Statistics.' Statistics Korea plans to upload the forum presentations on its YouTube channel on the 15th of next month.

At the forum, an awards ceremony was also held for the '2021 Regional Statistics Best Practices Contest,' which was conducted from July to this month. The contest, themed 'Policy Use and Service Cases of Regional Statistics,' saw participation from metropolitan and basic local governments nationwide. Nine excellent cases were selected, with Cheongju City, Chungcheongbuk-do's 'Discovering Reliable Policies Using Statistical Analysis Data' chosen as the best case. Statistics Korea awarded the Director General's Commendation and prize money to each winning organization.

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