Number of subscribers for PASS app top 10 mn

[Photo provided by SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus]

South Korea‘s digital identity app PASS has over 10 million subscribers using its identity authentication services via mobile driver’s licenses and resident identity cards as of Thursday, according to the mobile carriers that developed the app.

Launched in June 2020 via the ICT regulatory sandbox, PASS introduced the country‘s first identity authentication via mobile driver’s license on the app. It has also included mobile authentication for national ID cards since November 2022.

Users can either use their physical ID cards or enter their personal information into the PASS app without needing to take out their resident ID or driver‘s license. The service is used in various locations such as community centers, polling locations during public elections, and hospitals.

The PASS-based identification is highly secure and reliable as it requires a mobile phone with a subscriber identity module (SIM) card that is registered in the user’s legal name.