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Kim Hyun-jun, President of the Korea Social Security Information Service (SSIS), poses in front of the corporate identity (CI) logo. / Photo courtesy of the Korea Social Security Information Service

"Providing tailored, lifecycle-specific services by linking health and welfare, and shifting toward a 'proactive welfare' system that seeks out citizens first."

In an interview with Asia Today on May 21, Kim Hyun-jun, President of the Korea Social Security Information Service (SSIS), expressed his ambition to tackle pressing welfare challenges through 'proactive welfare,' a movement characterized by a departure from the traditional application-based system and a shift toward Artificial Intelligence Transformation (AX). Established in 2009 to facilitate the seamless distribution of national welfare programs, SSIS is a specialized digital platform institution that builds and manages eight major information networks, including the Social Security Information System, which processes tailored public welfare benefits.

Having taken office in June 2024 and now entering the third year of his term, Kim identified upgrading services to sustain the growth of 'Welfare Membership'—a key barometer for personalized welfare delivery—as his primary upcoming task. Welfare Membership analyzes distinct individual attributes such as age, income, and assets to guide eligible citizens toward appropriate programs. With 935,000 new subscribers added cumulatively as of last month, this year’s new sign-ups are projected to surpass last year’s total of 1.35 million.

"With many citizens still missing out on welfare benefits simply because they are unaware of the programs, we are focusing heavily on expanding and refining our Welfare Membership initiative," Kim stated. "We recently improved accessibility and user convenience by introducing notification channels via KakaoTalk. Moving forward, we plan to integrate AI-driven counseling and guidance features to transform the system into an intelligent life-care platform tailored to every individual." Specifically, SSIS is pursuing the development of AI-based predictive models to proactively protect households in crisis and minimize welfare blind spots, alongside upgrading interactive AI counseling services.

To further accelerate the growth of the subscriber base, Kim plans to seek out comprehensive public-private partnerships. "Overcoming the structural limitations of an application-based welfare system requires securing diverse datasets under the consent of citizens," Kim explained. "Alongside our agency's independent initiatives, public-private collaboration has been instrumental in boosting Welfare Membership enrollments. Going forward, we will strengthen partnerships with corporate social responsibility foundations and institutions closely tied to daily life, such as the Korea Water Resources Corporation, the Korea Housing Finance Corporation, and various energy-related agencies."

Kim also views securing highly skilled professionals as a prerequisite for realizing personalized welfare. Immediately after taking office, he moved to bolster staffing to build the agency's in-house capabilities for system management. "To deliver tailored welfare, I recognized the need to build a dense, AI-driven service architecture by leveraging the vast data housed within SSIS," he noted. "By persistently persuading the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and the National Assembly, we succeeded in expanding our authorized headcount by 22 personnel last year and another 26 this year, despite an overarching government push toward public sector streamlining. Crucially, this allowed us to secure specialized insourcing talent to directly operate the core functionalities of our systems."

Cybersecurity, a growing national concern following recent high-profile breaches at major domestic telecom carriers, is another top-priority issue keeping Kim vigilant. "As an institution entrusted with managing the personal welfare and medical records of the public, we treat security as our paramount operational value," he emphasized. "Following a series of hacking incidents across the tech landscape last year, we conducted an exhaustive three-month internal security audit to discover and patch vulnerabilities. We are now running a dedicated inspection task force to swiftly adapt and counter evolving cyberattack methodologies."

                                                                                                             Seo Byung-ju