- NIA Celebrates the 20th Anniversary

- The Driving Force Behind Korea's Emergence as IT Powerhouse

- NIA to Lead a New Era of Ubiquitous Society with a Wealth of Experiences and Expertise

National Information Society Agency(President: Chang-kon Kim www.nia.or.kr) has celebrated its 20th anniversary.



Since its launch on January 30, 1987, National Information Society(NIA), formally known as the National Computerization Agency, has played a central role in positioning Korea as one of the global IT powerhouses. Major achievements include building a high-speed national network, introducing e-government, making policy recommendations, and establishing the basic framework for Korea.



The high-speed information and communications network project which has paved the way for Korea's rise as a global IT leader involves the construction of state-of-the-art fiber optic cables spaning about 20,000 km in 144 regions across the country over 11 years from 1995 to 2005. More than 800 billion won will be injected into the project. The initiative has either triggered or expedited the informatization process at some 32,000 public organizations and created a comprehensive knowledge and information network, laying the cornerstone for securing Korea's global IT leadership.



NIA has been taking the lead in pushing forward with the e-government project since its inception in 2000. Currently, it is successfully implementing 11 major e-government tasks and 31 key tasks under the e-government road map. As a result, Korea ranked 5th in terms of success with e-government according to the data released by the UN in 2005.



Over the 20-year history, NIA has been a critical aid to the government by offering major policy initiatives. Some of the key policy initiatives are as follows:



▲ The Basic Act on Informatization Promotion (1995) known as the fundamental legal framework for national informatization.

▲ Cyber KOREA 21(1999) offering specific plans based on the Basic Act on Informatization Promotion and suggesting ways to overcome the unprecedented national management crisis of 1997

▲ e-KOREA VISION 2006(2002) targeted to promote informatization and globalization, building upon the success achieved since the 1997 financial crisis.

▲ Broadband IT KOREA VISION 2007(2003) designed to jump-start the economy by creating a new IT-based growth momentum

▲ The Basic Framework for KOREA(2006) offering a vision for the world's first ubiquitous society as a basis for building a greater welfare state.



NIA performs the role as an IT think tank by making policy recommendations and assisting the government with designing IT policies.



NIA launched its first audit service for the government computer network in March 1987. Since then, it has been auditing similar systems of various public institutions.



Extensive efforts have been made to promote the widespread use of audit services in all aspects of national informatization, such as setting the audit guidelines and criteria, educating and training auditors, creating audit systems and rules, and publishing audit guidebooks. In addition, NIA has made major contributions to drafting and legislating the Law on Efficient Introduction and Operation of Information Systems in 2005. The law is a result of its efforts to create an institutional framework for audit systems, such as encouraging the public sector to adopt audit systems and strictly regulating false or fraudulent audit practices.



This year marks a new beginning for the next 20 years with the new name after we closed the first chapter in which we served as the National Computerization Agency for the past 20 years. This year, we will continue to fulfill our mission as a central national agency committed to preparing Korea for the future as well as planning and designing the future under the banner Accelerate the March toward the Ubiquitous Era. NIA will suggest various strategies specifically designed to predict how the future society will evolve and devise long-to-mid-term plans to prepare ourselves for the future, said Chang-kon Kim, President of NIA.



NIA celebrated the 20th anniversary at the Korea Chamber of Commerce building on January 30, 2007.



Following the congratulatory remarks by Jun-hyong Roh, Minister of Information and Communication, medals and awards were given and plaques were conferred in recognition of excellence and appreciation. In addition, a publication titled NIA's 20 Year History-IT for the World was presented and a PR film was shown in celebration of its 20th anniversary.



At the ceremony, NIA signed an MOU with the Beautiful Foundation, a private, non-profit volunteer and community service group and the two organizations held the Declaration for Beautiful Work Places. NIA is the first public institute to sign such an agreement with a private organization. With this agreement, NIA plans to actively engage in various activities for sharing via IT, based on the informatization capacity it has built so far.



As part of such efforts, NIA requested that congratulators donate computer monitors instead of sending wreaths. More than 80 monitors were donated, indicating a great interest and support for this sharing campaign.



“The event was attended by the Minister of Information and Communication, former legislators, industry leaders and researchers who used to work with us at NIA. It was not just our anniversary celebration but a forum for all the participants to understand and share the vision, the new role and goals that NIA has established, an NIA official said.