Used Phone Safe Trading Program, 1 Year and 4 Months On... 4 in 10 Say, "Never Heard of It"

Assemblyman Han Junho: "Time to establish it on the ground"

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Han Junho is being interviewed by The Asia Business Daily at his office in the National Assembly. March 3, 2026. Photo by Kim Hyunmin.

Concerns have been raised that awareness of the Used Phone Safe Trading Program remains extremely low, even though it has been in place for one year and four months.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT, at the request of Han Jun-ho, a Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker on the National Assembly's Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, a cumulative 886 certificates verifying used phone transactions were issued from the program's launch on May 28 last year through the end of September this year.

This year, 570 certificates were issued, exceeding the 316 issued in all of last year. However, given that the Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) estimated that about 2.24 million used phones were traded between individuals last year, use of the program amounted to only around 0.01%.

The government allocated a budget of KRW 1 billion each year last year and this year to promote the program, but awareness remained low.

A survey commissioned by the Ministry of Science and ICT from Gallup Korea in the first half of this year, covering 1,014 general users, found that only 11.1% said they knew the Used Phone Safe Trading Program well. A total of 39.7% said they did not know about the program at all. In a separate survey of distributors, 31.9% also said they had never heard of it.

The Used Phone Safe Trading Program consists of a Safe Trading Business Certification System and a Transaction Verification Service. Under the certification system, businesses that meet certain standards, including procedures for deleting personal information and providing purchase price information by device grade, are certified to help consumers choose sellers they can trust.

The Transaction Verification Service allows someone who legitimately purchased a used phone to request that it be unblocked using a transaction verification certificate if the device has been blocked after the seller falsely reported it lost or stolen in an attempt to claim insurance money.

Assemblyman Han said, "The Used Phone Safe Trading Program is a meaningful initiative that helps people buy and sell used phones with confidence. Since it has not been in place for long, now is an important time to establish it on the ground."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.