According to APDIP: The progress of e-government service in Korea was ranked at 15th among 190 countries by a UN report (UN, 2002), and e-commerce readiness was ranked at 21st among 60 countries by a survey from the Economist (Economist, 2002).
Notable achievements include the KIPOnet, which promoted online applications for patents - up to 81.4% of the total applications with reduced examination time by more than 6 months (NCA, 2002[c]).
The Customs Administration Information System, launched in 1994 to streamline customs administration and reduce logistic costs in import and export procedures, is currently being used by all the trading companies and is connected to all the related institutions.
The One-stop Service System for Export & Import Cargo (PORT-MIS) is another example of service improvement by online transaction and information sharing.
The number of required documents for port administration has been reduced to 16 from 75, and the processing time decreased to 2 minutes from 2 hours.
The APDIP is another organization whose stake in member countries motivates them to promote policies that will in turn benefit their own interests. The criteria this body creates to monitor and evaluate nations are sectors its policy makers feel will benefit their nation and thus an extension of themselves. “In collaboration with National Governments, APDIP seeks to assist national and regional institutions in Asia-Pacific to improve access, knowledge-sharing, networking, and management, and application of ICTs for social and economic development. APDIP also helps to target and focus regional ICT initiatives to achieve relevant development goals by making ICT an integral part of development cooperation and solutions, developing countries and their partners in the Asia-Pacific region can work to address economic, social and digital divides in more innovative and effective ways.” SOURCE
However, it has also been argued that government websites might focus more on providing services, and less on facilitating civic involvement. This type of service orientation, they argue, treats citizens as consumers rather than partners in government, and thus inhibits public engagement with the nation’s political environment. Plus there is growing concern that e-government will only exacerbate the digital divide and further marginalize the have-nots. Among the reasons for this development based on limited or contracting resources consequently targeting sectors that are more likely to use e-gov.