The Ministry of Strategy and Finance decided to introduce up to 840 units of a dedicated laptop for civil servants, called "Onbook," this year. Two years ago, when it was first introduced on a trial basis, there were concerns and complaints about civil servants "suffering from work even on weekends," but after actual use, the response was that "it couldn't be more convenient."
However, the budget related to the comprehensive project plan led by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, which is spearheading the introduction of Onbook across all administrative agencies, has been completely cut for three consecutive years. Currently, each department must establish a separate platform to use Onbook. For the introduction of Onbook to expand, the government needs to create a common platform, but this has been delayed. There are criticisms that the Ministry of Strategy and Finance is only being proactive about its own department's introduction.
According to the government on the 3rd, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance plans to introduce an additional 540 Onbook units by September this year. After trial introducing 100 units in 2023 and expanding this to 300 units last year, the Ministry plans to operate a total of 840 units through this additional introduction.
Onbook is a secure work laptop that allows civil servants to work regardless of location and time. It is part of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration's "digital platform government" initiative, with the Ministry of the Interior and Safety driving the project. Since 2021, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety has developed Onbook in collaboration with the National Intelligence Service and others. Following the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Education have also introduced Onbook.
According to the principle of "physical network separation" of the National Intelligence Service, civil servants currently use two desktop computers per person in the office. The principle of physical network separation means completely separating internal work networks from external internet networks to prevent security incidents such as the leakage of national confidential information. Civil servants were unable to access the government work network using smartphones or personal laptops, being forced to work only in their office.
As they often work overtime and on weekends compared to other departments, there were voices of concern about work overload among some in the Ministry of Strategy and Finance during the trial introduction. However, positive feedback soon followed from Onbook users. In a survey conducted in December 2023 targeting 75 trial introduction participants, 85% responded that they were "satisfied" with using Onbook. It is particularly known that positive reviews have been widespread among senior officials who frequently travel to the National Assembly.
With the additional introduction of Onbook, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance plans to replace not only the desktops of employees who frequently travel or attend external meetings with one Onbook but also the desktops of office workers with one Onbook each. The intention is to achieve both "replacement of old PCs" and "overcoming physical work limitations."
Currently, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety is the most active in using Onbook among administrative agencies, with 320 units. Following are the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (300 units), the Ministry of Education (120 units), and the Ministry of National Defense (110 units). However, once the Ministry of Strategy and Finance completes its introduction this year, it will surpass the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.
However, the perspective of other administrative agencies watching the expansion of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance's Onbook introduction is not favorable. The budget for establishing a common platform compatible with the Onbook operating system "Cloud OS" has been completely cut for three consecutive years, meaning that each introducing agency must incur greater expenses in addition to purchasing laptops.
The common platform is seen as a "catalyst" for faster dissemination of Onbook in administrative and public institutions. Once the common platform is established, each department and local government can reduce the expenses incurred in building their own platforms. However, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance's decision to cut related budgets while expanding its own introduction is perceived as a "contradiction."
A government official noted, "Onbook is a project that is receiving positive feedback from users," and added that "without a common infrastructure, each agency must refer to the 'Onbook introduction guide' and expand Onbook by themselves."
A representative from the Ministry of Strategy and Finance commented, "We need to consider whether each agency will autonomously establish a platform or whether a standard encompassing all departments will be established," and explained that "there may be some cost-saving effects, but it could also further reduce the autonomy and utilization of each department."