S. Korea seeks to provide tailored data on NK assistance

Published : Mar 28, 2017 - 10:06 Updated : Mar 28, 2017 - 10:06

South Korea's government plans to create a new website this year to provide the private sector with tailored information on humanitarian assistance to North Korea, officials said Tuesday.

The Ministry of Unification said that the 400 million-won ($360,800) project is intended to boost government-private sector cooperation and efficiency in the provision of relief supplies to North Korea through closer analysis and integration of extensive data.

The Ministry of Unification (Yonhap)

The bidding process to select a developer for the system is under way, officials said.

The plan comes amid rising calls for a more systemic management of information and better communications between the government and civic groups on assistance to North Korea.

Currently, the ministry is running a website that mainly focuses on making it easier for civilians to apply for government approval for their plans to send assistance to North Korea or visit the North.

The new system is expected to utilize big data techniques of information processing and analysis. It will provide analysis visualized geographic information, and analytical data about inter-Korean exchanges and assistance to North Korea, they added.

"The creation of the website is expected to help the government manage the relevant information systemically and effectively," said Cho Bong-hyun, a senior analyst at IBK Economic Research Institute.

In 2015, the government announced a decision to encourage more civic groups to increase their exchanges with North Korea to mark the 70th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule.

But it has suspended almost all civilian inter-Korean exchanges in response to Pyongyang's fourth nuclear test and long-range rocket launch in early 2016. (Yonhap)