By Jun Ji-hye
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Election Commission (NEC) will complete the development of a blockchain-based voting system next month in a bid to raise reliability and security of online voting services, the ministry said Wednesday.
The technology fundamentally prevents forgery or falsification of voting results. It also enables candidates and election observers to have access to data, saved on the blockchain system, to check the results with their own eyes, the ministry noted.
The ministry will also run trial services, such as surveys, to verify the blockchain-based online voting system.
The ministry has been pushing for the project since June in cooperation with the election watchdog.
The ministry said the new system will apply blockchain technology in every stage of online voting from voter authentication to verification of voting results.
Based on the results of the trial services, the ministry and the NEC will apply the technology to the latter's online voting system, dubbed K-Voting.
"We expect the blockchain-based voting system to enhance reliability of voting," said Kim Jeong-won, a ministry official. "The ministry will continue to support the application of blockchain technology to actively utilize it in areas that require reliability."
The NEC said it will also give efforts to improve voting services by integrating technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as artificial intelligence, big data and internet of things.
Blockchain refers to a peer-to-peer network where many people participate to provide computing power for the security of the decentralized system. It has a built-in payment system, well-known examples of which involve bitcoin and Ethereum.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Election Commission (NEC) will complete the development of a blockchain-based voting system next month in a bid to raise reliability and security of online voting services, the ministry said Wednesday.
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The ministry will also run trial services, such as surveys, to verify the blockchain-based online voting system.
The ministry has been pushing for the project since June in cooperation with the election watchdog.
The ministry said the new system will apply blockchain technology in every stage of online voting from voter authentication to verification of voting results.
Based on the results of the trial services, the ministry and the NEC will apply the technology to the latter's online voting system, dubbed K-Voting.
"We expect the blockchain-based voting system to enhance reliability of voting," said Kim Jeong-won, a ministry official. "The ministry will continue to support the application of blockchain technology to actively utilize it in areas that require reliability."
The NEC said it will also give efforts to improve voting services by integrating technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution such as artificial intelligence, big data and internet of things.
Blockchain refers to a peer-to-peer network where many people participate to provide computing power for the security of the decentralized system. It has a built-in payment system, well-known examples of which involve bitcoin and Ethereum.
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