Korea privacy watchdog to showcase pseudonymised-data projects at Seoul forum

South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission said Wednesday it will hold a conference in Seoul on Oct. 28 to share the experience of research institutions and data providers that have used pseudonymised information, in a push to help organisations plan next year's studies and services.

The event, at the Summit One Seoul Station venue, is aimed at companies, local governments, public bodies and research institutes interested in the data format or preparing related work.

At the conference, four research institutions — the Korea Road Traffic Authority, the Migration Policy Research Institute, the Korea Sports Promotion Foundation and the National Research Foundation of Korea — will present their experiences, including a study of the relationship between traffic accidents and health conditions among elderly drivers, an analysis of potential basic-livelihood beneficiaries among foreigners, an assessment of health improvement among participants in the National Fitness Award 100 programme, and an analysis of how researchers supported by the BK21 programme enter the workforce and build careers.

Three data-holding institutions — the Gyeonggi provincial government, the Seoul Housing and Communities Corporation and the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service — will then present practical experience for bodies preparing to supply pseudonymised data, covering analysis of high-risk elderly care groups, the effect of public rental housing on birth rates, and the performance of a support programme for employment at small and medium-sized enterprises.

The conference will also introduce two cases identified through the Seoul pseudonymised-data support centre: a Kangwon National University cohort study tracking risk factors for precancerous stomach lesions, and a study by Kyungdong City Gas on using pseudonymised data to develop an artificial intelligence algorithm that judges whether a property is actually occupied.

After the case presentations, the Korea Internet and Security Agency will explain the support available under the pseudonymised-data framework.

The commission plans to hold a further briefing at the end of the year covering additional cases and the year's overall support results. "It is important to reduce the difficulties researchers and data-providing institutions face in the field and to share actual experience of using pseudonymised data," the commission said. "We hope this conference provides practical help to institutions preparing new research and projects, and the commission will actively support the safe use of pseudonymised data in policy research and service development across various fields."