A child's first birthday is special. It is an occasion to look back on a year of remarkable growth — first steps, first babbles — and to bless the days of stronger growth ahead. Government institutions have such meaningful first birthdays too. On October 1, the Ministry of Data and Statistics marks the first anniversary of its launch. It was the most significant organizational transition in the 36 years since the agency took its first step in 1990, when it was reorganized from the Bureau of Survey and Statistics under the Economic Planning Board into Statistics Korea. Many changes have begun over the past year, but questions still come back: "What is the difference between statistics and data?" "Why was it elevated to a data ministry?" And "What will change in people's lives going forward?"
Let us first consider the relationship between statistics and data. Statistics present in clear numbers where our society and economy stand. They are society's coordinates, answering plainly how large the total population is, how much employment has grown, and by what percentage consumer prices have risen. Data, by contrast, is far broader. It is every form of source information generated across society — from the civil documents we submit to administrative agencies as we go about our day, to corporate transaction records, government policy reports, factory sensor signals and video files. Statistics, too, are drawn from this ocean of data, and they are the most refined crystallization of data, shaped by a long history and rigorous verification systems.
The spread of artificial intelligence is completely redefining the value of this data. No matter how excellent an AI model is, it cannot produce correct answers if the raw data it learns from is contaminated or fragmented. It is the same principle as fine kitchen equipment and elaborate recipes failing to yield good cooking when the ingredients are not fresh. This is why the decisive battleground in the global competition for AI supremacy is shifting rapidly from large models to high-quality data. The launch of the Ministry of Data and Statistics was a national decision that recognized the expertise of a national statistical office (NSO) in statistical data and added the role of a national chief data officer (CDO) overseeing and coordinating data across the entire government. It broadened the horizon beyond an institution that produces statistics well, into one that connects all of the nation's high-quality data, sets standards and underpins the age of AI.
The task the ministry is devoting the most effort to on its first birthday is likewise laying the institutional cornerstone to support this firmly. At its center is the Framework Act on National Data. It is the legal basis for the CDO role, allowing nationally important data to be managed systematically and connected for safe use where it is needed. After preliminary research and the gathering of views from across society and all government ministries, the framework act was introduced in May, was tabled before the National Assembly's Finance, Economy and Planning Committee in July, and successfully completed a public hearing in September. We intend to complete enactment within the year without disruption, firmly establishing the foundation for carrying out the CDO role in earnest.
Alongside this, over the past year we have quietly built up unseen basic infrastructure, including data standardization and quality management, government-wide data governance and an AI-friendly metadata system. Just as a child's first birthday is not the end of growth but the starting point of a real leap forward, the ministry's first year was also a time of erecting a sturdy framework for a greater leap. The journey ahead is a time for producing value that the public can feel firsthand, built on this solid data infrastructure. We will vigorously open the ministry's second year so that connected, high-quality data firmly supports more precise policies for people's livelihoods and leads to results that substantively change their lives.
