The government will begin a campaign to encourage people to use their real names when posting on the Internet to help reduce crimes committed due to the Net's anonymity, government sources said.
The Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry will incorporate a set of measures for the campaign in a final report that its "information frontier" study panel will later this week, the sources said.
Among steps being envisaged are asking elementary and junior high schools to use blogs and social networking sites, both considered less anonymous than other Internet formats, in their education, the sources said.
The communications ministry will work out details on the measures in cooperation with the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, they said.
The communications ministry has judged it necessary to encourage people to turn to Internet sites with less anonymity to reduce Net-related crimes, the sources said.
The information frontier study panel is expected to propose that schools teach children "morals" in the use of the Internet to encourage them to express their views under their real names.
The ministry will also call on municipalities to actively use social networking sites as part of efforts to revitalize regional economies, the sources said.
The use of real names has become more common in South Korea and has helped prevent Net-related crimes there, according to the communications ministry.