Storing notarized document information and certificates on the blockchain
Sharing between banks, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and overseas missions in electronic document format
You can check the issuance and content of real-time notarized documents.

Person A, who lives overseas, tried to submit loan documents to a bank to acquire domestic real estate. So, I visited a distant overseas mission and sent the notarized documents to a domestic acquaintance, and then the acquaintance visited the bank in person and submitted the documents on my behalf.

It took over ten days for the financial transaction, including the process of confirming the issuance of notarized documents issued overseas, but there was no other way.

Employee B, who is in charge of financial transactions at OO Bank, had to contact the overseas diplomatic mission directly to confirm the authenticity of the power of attorney submitted by Mr. C, who claimed to be Mr. A's agent, and confirm the issuance, which was cumbersome and inconvenient.

In the future, blockchain technology will be applied to the process of notarizing documents issued or written overseas at overseas diplomatic missions such as embassies and consulates, enabling rapid verification and distribution of notarized documents without being restricted by time and space.
The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that they plan to complete the 'Blockchain-based Overseas Mission Notarization Issuance System' project by December.

Overseas diplomatic notarization is a system that requires notarization by an overseas diplomatic mission or confirmation by a consul in order to submit private documents such as powers of attorney and foreign official documents to domestic institutions. Even if issued or written overseas, it has the same effect in Korea.

This project is part of the '6 major public pilot projects', a key initiative of the 'Blockchain Technology Development Strategy' announced last June, and has been carried out since the beginning of this year in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.p;

Until now, overseas Koreans were able to engage in domestic financial activities by having a power of attorney notarized at an overseas diplomatic mission and delivering it to a domestic agent.

However, it has been difficult for domestic financial institutions to verify the authenticity and issuance of paper powers of attorney notarized by overseas diplomatic missions, and various crimes have occurred by exploiting the vulnerability of paper documents to forgery and alteration.

The number of documents notarized at overseas diplomatic missions reaches approximately 300,000 annually, of which more than 60,000 are notarized documents related to various delegated tasks.

The system built this time stores notarized document information and certificates on the blockchain, and shares them in electronic document format between domestic institutions (banks), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and overseas missions, enabling real-time confirmation of the issuance and content of notarized documents.

For example, when a Korean national residing abroad submits a power of attorney to obtain a domestic bank loan, a bank representative can immediately verify the authenticity of the financial power of attorney issued and notarization (consular verification) stored on the blockchain.

Reflecting the results of this pilot project, the Embassy in Japan, the Consulate General in LA, and 14 domestic financial institutions will participate in operating a "Financial Power of Attorney Issuance Verification Service" in 2019. And we plan to expand and apply it to all overseas missions by 2020.

Based on future related achievements, we plan to promote international standardization of the blockchain-based e-Apostille (electronic Apostille Programme) system for electronic distribution of certificates among Apostille Convention signatory countries.

An apostille is a system established under the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalization for Foreign Public Documents. Once the competent authorities (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice) of the issuing country certify the authenticity of a document, it is recognized as valid in member countries without any additional procedures. South Korea joined the convention in July 2007.

Kim Jeong-won, Director General of Internet Convergence Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, “The notarization and public document verification system implemented through this pilot project has great potential for application in other similar fields,” and added, “We hope that the results of this pilot project will help our country lead the international standards in the blockchain field and secure global competitiveness.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated, “By applying blockchain technology, we have increased the reliability of domestic use of notarized documents from overseas diplomatic missions and the international use of domestic official documents,” and “Based on the results of this pilot project, we will work harder to improve consular and civil affairs services for overseas Koreans and expand support for our citizens residing overseas and our young people who wish to advance overseas.”