South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT selected 8 cases as top proactive administration examples, including an improvement that allows firefighters' communications to be processed ahead of general users at disaster sites such as major fires.

The ministry selected 8 cases for the third 2026 Proactive Administration Best Practice Awards and held an awards ceremony on Sunday.

The top-rated case, titled "Allow priority processing for emergency rescue communications based on commercial networks," improved rules to allow communications by firefighters at disaster sites to be transmitted first in situations such as major fires. The ministry said it took a forward-looking interpretation of special service requirements in the "Network Neutrality Guidelines" and, after consultations with the National Fire Agency and the three mobile carriers, enabled priority processing for firefighters' on-site communications.

Another top-rated case was a project that used AI vibe coding to build an in-house "startup integrated management web app (PROB)" without external outsourcing. In the technology commercialisation process, multiple support organisations need to share startup-related information in real time, but outsourcing a separate platform would have required a budget of tens of millions of won and several months of time.

In response, an official in charge taught himself AI vibe coding and built a platform to manage integrated data on more than 3,000 startups without additional budget. The ministry assessed the case as improving work efficiency while saving budget.

Other best practice cases included expanding the data safety option (QoS) to all data plans without fee increases, and conducting a nationwide survey and establishing an integrated compensation system to resolve shared electricity charges for internet equipment that residents had borne.

Encouragement award cases included preemptive responses to security incidents through revisions to the Information and Communications Network Act, establishing plans to build a Korean low-Earth-orbit satellite communications network, supporting the growth of young talent in the AI transition field through the specialised research personnel system, and supporting the recovery of disaster response capabilities in special disaster zones for wildfires through "Spectrum All One Day" (All One Day).

Koo Hyuk-chae (구혁채), the ministry's first vice minister, said, "I hope you will continue to do your best in practising proactive administration so it can serve as a stepping stone for the great transformation of AI and science technology and South Korea's great leap forward."