Study on Current Status and Cause Analysis of Digital Divide for Low-Income Class in Korea

With the development of information and communication technology, modern people are receiving various benefits, and knowledge and use of information and communication technology are becoming essential qualities in modern people's lives. There are people who do not enjoy the rich benefits of this information and communication society, and the so-called 'digital divide' acts as an obstacle that prevents the information and communication from enjoying a rich life. Currently, there are four major information underprivileged classes in Korea, the disabled, the elderly, low-income class and farmers and fishermen, respectively. The purpose of this study is to identify the current status of the digital divide for the low-income class and to analyze the causes of the digital divide. To this end, in this study, we analyze statistics on digital divide at the national level and analyzed the digital divide of low-income class from three perspectives: information access, information capability, and information use. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the lack of information capability was the biggest cause of the digital divide, and in particular, information management ability was the most insufficient among information capabilities.