A mobile driver’s license verification service offered by South Korea’s popular self-authentication app, PASS, is set to become an official ID card available in financial, public, and medical sectors, alongside its existing use in various applications.

The country’s three major telecom companies ? SK telecom Co., KT Corp., and LG Uplus Corp. ? announced on Thursday that a regulatory review committee under the Ministry of Science and ICT has approved their proposed change in a project to allow the inclusion of full resident registration numbers within the PASS Mobile Driver’s License Verification Service.

The app created by the telcos in collaboration with a venture company consists of self-authentication, certification, mobile identification, and electronic documents.

Among its features, the PASS Mobile Driver’s License Verification Service, introduced in June 2020, has gained popularity with over 5.3 million users.

Serving as the country’s first certified form of identification in the private sector, the app holds legal significance equivalent to a physical driver’s license in terms of validating driving qualifications and personal identification.

The committee’s decision which permits the inclusion of the resident registration number alongside the driver’s license number is aimed at enhancing the reliability of identity verification through mobile identification.

As a result, PASS users are expected to be able to use the service in place of traditional identification documents in the finance, public, and medical sectors, where heightened ID security is essential.

The three telcos plan to collaborate with relevant authorities to enable the use of the full resident registration number in the PASS Mobile Driver’s License Verification Service soon.

They also intend to introduce facial recognition technology based on the user’s ID photo within the PASS Mobile ID by the end of this year. This development is expected to make identity verification more convenient and secure in contactless settings like unmanned convenience stores and kiosks.

By Kim Dae-gi and Minu Kim

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