The Korean resident card system severely violates human rights, putting personal identity numbers on all civilians and keeping their fingerprints on record, in Western society a procedure for criminals. In recent years, personal information on South Korean citizens is being computerized on a governmental level, thus enabling executive agencies and even the private sector to access it. It is just another Big Brother, totalitarian control of the people by an unseen authority. H...more

The Korean resident card system severely violates human rights, putting personal identity numbers on all civilians and keeping their fingerprints on record, in Western society a procedure for criminals. In recent years, personal information on South Korean citizens is being computerized on a governmental level, thus enabling executive agencies and even the private sector to access it. It is just another Big Brother, totalitarian control of the people by an unseen authority. However, the South Korean government advocates the necessity of the system, pointing to the present division of the Korean peninsula, which is leading people to put up with it. This work raises the problems of the resident card system, which internalizes both a surveillance system and a new form of fascism. Overcoming such contradictions and abuse would be the first step towards a genuine restoration of human rights.
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