Aju Business Daily

SEOUL -- South Korea's favorite smartphone messenger app Kakao Talk will release an all-in-one digital identification card wallet service that will help users verify their identity and carry digitally issued national certificates using smartphones.

Kakao said in a statement on December 16 that it would release a verification service for online banking in December and a digital certificate service and a digital driver's license in the first half of next year. A smartphone driver's license authentication service began in June through apps operated by mobile carriers.

"People's everyday lives will become more convenient as they can simply and safely use Kakao Talk to verify their identity, qualifications and career," Kakao Talk's service department head Kim Taek-soo was quoted as saying. The messenger app applied blockchain, a virtual multi-ledger system, to authentication services.

Users can carry 495 kinds of certificates issued by the Human Resources Development Service of Korea in an authenticated digital document form. Blockchain is a decentralized service in which each connected user keeps a copy of a ledger book that is updated in real-time when a change is made to copies carried by other users. It is virtually unhackable.