[The Editors' Verdict] The 'NICE Incident' Throws Cold Water on the Digital Platform Government

"We will inspect the Education Administration Information System (NEIS·NICE) that caused the error incident." This is what Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said. To be precise, this statement refers to the third-generation NICE incident from 12 years ago in 2011. Minister Lee was also the Minister of Education at that time. Back then, NICE caused a huge uproar by incorrectly calculating the internal ranking and grades of about 29,000 high school students. NICE is a network used by the Ministry of Education, 17 metropolitan and provincial offices of education, and schools nationwide to manage student grades, attendance, and school records. This NICE has evolved into an intelligent fourth generation after 12 years, costing 280 billion won. This time too, NICE confused teachers, students, and parents. There were login failures, connection delays, and errors where final exam answer sheets from one school were printed at a third school. At this point, the term "intelligent" seems ironically inappropriate.

NICE, used in educational settings, is a type of e-government service. Its development began in earnest during the Kim Dae-jung administration as national informatization projects took off. As the government-led computerization of education administration progressed, all students in schools nationwide received equal benefits. There is no need to print complicated admission documents on paper. Parents can check their children's attendance and grades online. If such services were provided by each school individually, the quality of service would vary depending on the school's financial status and efforts. Schools in wealthier areas would have better administrative services, while less affluent schools would inevitably fall behind. In this way, the benefits of e-government are applied equally to all citizens.

Government digitalization is a representative success story of Korea's IT sector. No other country in the world offers as convenient public government services as Korea does. With just a few clicks, necessary documents can be printed 24/7 from work or home. If you have ever visited a government office abroad and waited a long time to obtain a single document, you can appreciate the benefits of Korea’s fast and accurate e-government services. Therefore, the recent NICE error issue should not be taken lightly. It is a case that reveals uncertainties in the ambitious e-government plans of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. President Yoon pledged to realize a digital platform government.

President Yoon stated, "While the e-government developed over the past 30 years has produced good results, the digital platform government is not just an upgrade of e-government but a completely different level." He emphasized that the digital platform government itself will become a key export industry, a future model for countries worldwide, and a national strategic industry. As President Yoon intends, the digital platform government is competitive anywhere in the world. However, to export the digital platform government, performance is important, but reliability must come first. Complete perfection is essential rather than hasty implementation. If situations like the NICE error occur in exported digital platform government systems, it could even undermine trust in South Korea. Systems that have problems domestically cannot exclude the possibility of errors abroad. There are sufficient reasons to choose a safe path, even if it takes longer.

Baek Jong-min, Opinion Editor

Baek Jong-min, Opinion Editor

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