Experts, officials of Asia to discuss ‘smart city’ legislation

Legal experts and public officials from around Asia will come to Korea for the annual Asian Legislative Experts Symposium (ALES), to be held at The Plaza Seoul hotel on Oct. 30, to discuss legislative issues in “smart city” projects, according to the Ministry of Government Legislation, Sunday.

Co-hosted by the ministry and the Korea Legislation Research Institute, the conference provides a platform for Asian countries to share their legislative expertise and experience.

This year under the theme of “Legislative Modification Strategies for Smart City Development,” about 350 participants from some 30 countries will talk about the common interests of their countries which are experiencing various urban problems.

Smart city technology requires a regulation sandbox to be tested. Last year, the Korean central government chose Sejong and Busan as the country’s smart city test beds. Projects like driverless shuttle buses and AI-powered healthcare services are being implemented at these cities under the 2017 Smart City Law.

The keynote speech at this year’s conference will be given by Jeong Jae-seung, a KAIST professor heading the smart city project in Sejong. Progress on the Busan project will also be presented during the first session which covers the country’s legislative history so far on smart city development.

Government officials from Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam will share ongoing test projects from their own countries in the second session. One of those case studies will be Hue City in central Vietnam, which launched a smart city connection platform recently through telecom provider Viettel.

“Many Asian countries are turning to smart cities for solutions to various urban problems. We chose this topic to share Korea’s experience on the legislative apparatus necessary to support such projects,” Government Legislation Minister Kim Hyung-yun said in a statement.

The ALES started in 2013 with a goal to strengthen exchanges in legislation among Asian countries. Previous themes include the development of IT-related laws, legislation for response to natural disasters and legislative efforts to expand public participation in policy.

Besides the conference, the ministry has developed networks with the neighboring countries. Myanmar, for example, has adopted a Korea-style online legislation database.