Customer Experience
Photo: Adobe Stock (Generated with AI)
May 22, 2025
The South Korean government is investing approximately 9.2 billion won (roughly $6.66 million) in a project to make self-service kiosks more accessible for seniors and individuals with disabilities, according to a Chosun Biz report.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced the barrier-free kiosk technology and dissemination support project on Thursday, aimed at addressing the difficulties these groups face when using such devices.
The initiative will support manufacturers in developing accessible kiosk technology and assist with the verification process for these devices. This move aligns with recent amendments to South Korean laws mandating improved convenience for digitally vulnerable populations. The government acknowledged that the difficulty in supplying accessible devices has burdened kiosk installers and operators, including small business owners.
Key aspects of the project include providing technical consulting to about 50 small kiosk development and manufacturing companies to accelerate the creation of barrier-free devices. A portion of the budget, 1.5 billion won (approximately $1.09 million), will be specifically used to prioritize the supply of accessible kiosks to unmanned stores and automated financial service locations.
The project will also support hardware and software solutions for retrofitting existing kiosks, such as adding braille keypads or installing secondary monitors at lower heights for wheelchair users. Accessible kiosks are also slated to be supplied to small businesses through a separate Smart Store project by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.
«Through this supplementary budget project, the supply of barrier-free kiosks will increase, alleviating the burden of adopting barrier-free kiosks for self-employed individuals and small business owners,» Song Sang-hoon, head of the Information and Communication Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, told the news outlet. «The spread of barrier-free kiosks is expected to accelerate, significantly enhancing the convenience of kiosk use for digital vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and disabled.»