A new bus line and a traffic card brought big changes to the transportation system in Seoul on July 7th, 2004. Seoul city is now using T-money, the brand name of a new traffic card. T-money is a kind of ?mart Card?that can be used when taking a bus and taxi, when parking your car and when driving through a tollgate. And if we use T-money, we can pay a reduced fare and receive bonus points, which can later be used like cash. As you can see, T-money offers various services in one card. 
  What is the Smart Card?  The Smart Card has micro-process and memory equipment. So, the Smart Card is able to perform simple operations and store information. The first Smart Cards were magnetic cards that had a black magnetic strip on the back of the card. Our information was stored on this black magnetic strip. For example, the card would store your name, birth, sex, and address etc. But a weak point of the magnetic card was that it could only save a small amount of information (and it was easy for personal information to be shared with the outside.) So, the Optical Card was proposed. This card was able to store a lot of information but the price was too high. Therefore, the Smart Card was born.
   There are many good points of the Smart Card. First, the Smart Card is capable of protecting your personal information from other people better than Magnetic card and can store a lot of information because it is created using a memory chip. Second, the Smart- Card can be used in various places including for finance, communication, traffic, medical treatments and as an identification card, etc. Now, when most people go to the hospital, they bring their individual medical care insurance card and receive medical treatment from a doctor. Patients receive a prescription and get their medicine at the pharmacy.  If they used the Smart Card, the patients?record of treatment would be saved on the computer and this information is then sent to a pharmacy because the hospital is connected to the pharmacy. So people would no longer need to  bring individual medical care insurance card and get a new prescription. This method is used at Seoul National University Hospital. And the card can also keep track of vaccination dates and any allergies the person might have.
   An officer can check a persons attendance in addition to their coming and going by using an employee card at SAMSUNG. This function is one of the skills offered by the new Smart Card. Third, if we attach the memory chip to our watch, a cell phone wire or a necklace it will be easy to use because we will be carrying it on our hand and body. Finally, we can eliminate the various cards we currently carry in our purse or wallet. All of these cards are put together in one Smart Card.
   In 1995, when President Kim Young-sam was in power, an identity card was created by Smart Card. But the nation was against it because people were worried about their personal information being shared. After that the government didn't support any business programs or appropriate any business funds for the creation of the Smart Card. There were very few places that had Smart Card readers so its use was not widespread.   
   First, let's look at the problem of access to individual information in Europe. In the case of Belgium, Belgium made a rigid law regarding Smart Cards that required the use of electronic signature verification in order to protect individuals privacy. The government recognizes that the Smart Card contributed to the protection of individual information and has collected the publics information for issuance of the Smart Card and for this purpose only. Second, there was the problem of having an adequate supply of Smart Card readers. The large banks in Taiwan and Japan helped to supply Smart Card readers.
   The last problem was each bank issuing individual Smart Cards. Banks are also a business enterprise that is pursuing a profit. Each of banks has different system and the Smart Card has profit problems. After all, all of the cards are actually put together and it is difficult to use one Smart Card. So we quickly try and create a system of  unification and standardization. For example, management of all banks membership programs and standardized service in the future.
   In this way, Smart Cards can be used for a variety of things including: finance, communi-cation, traffic, medical treatment and an identification card, etc. We use just one card according to the principle of the Smart Card. Frankly speaking, it is difficult to create a unity card because each bank wants to make a profit and the people of Korea are against it. Starting this October, the use of Smart Cards in banks will be mandatory. Let's overcome these matters thorough the positive aid of the government and the conscious change of people. If this happens, we will be able to use the Smart Card effectively.