The Korea National Statistical Office is moving from the Ministry of Economy and Finance to be under the prime minister, raising expectations that new statistics that have not been covered so far will emerge. The Korea National Statistical Office receives raw data from other ministries to produce statistics, and it is expected to be easier to obtain data as the agency's rank rises.
According to the government on the 9th, the Korea National Statistical Office is expected to become an agency under the prime minister, separating from the Ministry of Economy and Finance as early as this month.
The Korea National Statistical Office will have a new name, the National Data Agency. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety will soon approve a draft amendment to the Government Organization Act containing this change at a Cabinet meeting and submit it to the National Assembly. The amendment will take effect immediately after promulgation once it passes the National Assembly.
On the changes to the Korea National Statistical Office, Yoon Ho-jung, Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, said the government will "establish whole-of-government data governance that covers statistics and public and private data in the age of artificial intelligence and strengthen the linking and utilization functions of various statistics and data."
If the Korea National Statistical Office moves under the prime minister, it expects to be able to more easily obtain data belonging to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Ministry of Education, the National Tax Service and others. Until now, many requests have been rejected by ministries citing reasons such as personal information protection.
Because of that, statistics released by the Korea National Statistical Office have often been provided only in fragments. Examples include the average time to graduate for university graduates, the main preparation fields for job exams among the economically inactive population, and the industry distribution of first jobs after graduation. It has been possible to confirm figures for specific items, but it was difficult to connect items to grasp overall phenomena.
If data procurement becomes smoother, new statistics based on individuals can be produced. For example, using data received from the Ministry of Education to identify people who benefited from educational support such as scholarships, and then obtaining their current assets and income from the National Tax Service to verify the effects.
If such statistics are derived, the effects of each type of educational support can be evaluated, and programs with strong results can be selected to enable efficient budget execution.
A Korea National Statistical Office official said, "The more data you collect and link, the more synergy you get," adding, "If precise data are extracted, they could also help the policies promoted by each ministry."
Meanwhile, earlier this month the Korea National Statistical Office distributed "KOSTAT-DI" (KOSTAT-DI), a statistical disclosure control program to reduce the risk of personal information exposure. It is an Excel-based automation program that supports the de-identification work that ministry and local government statistics officials had been doing manually. As personal information protection also becomes easier than before, cooperation with the Korea National Statistical Office on data is expected to become more feasible.