South Korea’s online financial network was built around Internet Explorer and ActiveX plug-in in the 1990s. Presidential candidate Moon Jae-in has proposed scrapping the law that forces South Koreans to use this software. Despite being known for digital innovation, many public agency websites are still only accessible with IE.
In the late 1990s, South Korea built its online financial network around Internet Explorer and the ActiveX plug-in, which is only supported by Internet Explorer. Fast forward to 2017 and Internet Explorer is alive, while many other browsers are now available for computer users who want to conduct e-commerce transactions such as online banking and shopping. At least one South Korean presidential candidate, Moon Jae-in, running to replace disgraced President Park Geun-hye, has proposed scrapping a law that forced South Koreans to use this now fragile software and the cyber security since the late 1990s. South Korea is one of the few countries where Internet Explorer is still in widespread use, with Japan and Greenland among other holdouts.
The dark ages of digital innovation:
Ironically, South Korea is known for digital innovation, with a 4G LTE network reaching into the Seoul subway system. But this tech-savvy country is stuck in a time warp with its addiction to Internet Explorer.
An alarming number of public agency websites are still accessible only with IE, including portals for tax returns, pensions, National Health Insurance, employment insurance and immigration applications.
In the 1990s, the National Tax Service invested large sums of money building its infrastructure around Internet Explorer. There weren’t many users of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or any other browser in 1999, so the agency staked everything on Internet Explorer.
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