South Korea

Friedrich Naumann Foundation cooperates with South Korea’s e-gov pioneer

Few countries have developed as advanced a digital public administration as South Korea. For the past 15 years, the country has consistently ranked among the top five in the United Nations’ E-Government Survey.

A key driver of this success is the Korea Local Information Research & Development Institute (KLID), a long-standing partner of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. KLID is responsible for the digital infrastructure and administrative software used by all regional and local administrations in South Korea.

As part of a recent delegation visit to Germany, KLID President Park Doek Soo and Karl-Heinz Paqué, Chairman of the Naumann Foundation, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to further expand their collaboration.

The goal is to intensify bilateral knowledge exchange—particularly in areas such as digital democracy and effective public administration. A key focus will be on the potential of artificial intelligence and how it can help make government services more citizen-friendly.

Given the pace of South Korea’s digital transformation, Germany stands to benefit greatly from the East Asian experience. At the same time, KLID has expressed strong interest in Germany’s liberal approach to digital governance—especially regarding participation, transparency, and data protection.

Prior to the formal signing ceremony, the KLID delegation met with German digital governance experts, including Oliver Rottmann, Director of the Center for Public Economy, Infrastructure and Public Services at Leipzig University.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation and KLID have worked together successfully since 2016. They have co-hosted several international conferences on digital governance in Seoul—most recently on the occasion of a visit by State Secretary Stefan Schnorr from the Federal Ministry for Transport.