By Moon Gwang-lip
Staff Reporter



Citizens have civil documents issued at the Chongno ward office, central Seoul, Wednesday. The government has decided to stop issuing civil documents through its online public service, following growing concerns about forgery. / Korea Times

Forgers of civil documents who use online public services to commit their crimes will face severe punishment, as the government has pledged to root out the practice.
The move came after online services for issuing civil documents, including resident registration, were suspended amid growing concerns about forgery.

The Government Information Agency said Wednesday that the government has decided to create a task force next month to draw up measures against document fabrication.

It said the task force will be run by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, the National Tax Service, the Supreme Court and other related government agencies.

The decision was made during a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan.

The government has also decided to set up an administrative information sharing system by 2007 to monitor possible forgeries of civil documents.

``We will make every effort to confirm that Internet issuance services will resume by late October,’’ an official said.

Boosted by a broadband network, Korea launched in 2003 the G4C, or the government for citizens system, under which civil documents are available online.

The system was designed to make public service procedures simple and convenient as part of the e-government project.

However, Rep. Kwon Oh-eul of the opposition Grand National Party (GNP) raised concerns about sloppy cyber security during a National Assembly inspection last Friday.

He admitted that the services are vulnerable to crimes and that the online documents can be easily fabricated.

``Documents can be forged before printout when they are transmitted to personal computers right after being approved on the Web site of the ministry, rather than being falsified in the printed documents,’’ Kwon said.

In the wake of the claim, the government has suspended the online services of about 21 kinds of administrative documents, including certificates of resident registration and tax payment.

The Supreme Court has also temporarily shut down online services for the issuance of property and business registration documents since Tuesday.

joseph@koreatimes.co.kr