韩国一位政府官员12月26日表示，该国检察官们将从近日起开始采用手机短信的方式告知有关当事人，别人已将他（她）告上法庭。

    据路透社12月26日报道，韩政府官员李荣杓表示，鉴于目前大约有75％的韩国人经常随身携带手机，因此检察官们认为，将传统的纸制法律文书改用电子方式把相关信息及时传达给当事人的时机已经成熟。他说：“现在大部分韩国人已经拥有了手机，既然过去那种寄送邮件的方法不能使法律文书迅速传递到当事人的手上，那么，利用手机短信就不失为一种更为快捷精确的方法。”他还说：“人们只有在主动申请了相关服务之后才会收到这类司法短信。”

    报道说，该项服务将从12月27日开始试行，但全面铺开则还要等到明年。据检察官们预计，通过此种做法可以使他们每年节省1.6亿韩元（约合15.8万美元）的经费。另外，关于各种罚款及行政处罚的信息也将以短信的方式通知当事人。

    South Koreans may look at their mobile phones with some trepidation in the new year because prosecutors will start telling people they have been indicted via text messages, an official said on Monday.

    In a country where about 75 percent of the population carries mobile phones, prosecutors felt it was time to move away from sending legal notices on paper and send them electronically instead, said Lee Young-pyo, an administrative official.

    "Most people in South Korea have mobile phones and since the notices don't reach them immediately by regular mail, this is a more definite way for the individuals to know they have received a legal notice," Lee said.

    The indictments by text messages are not intended to take people by surprise. "People will receive a text message of a legal notice only after they apply for the service," he said.

    Prosecutors expect to save about 160 million won ($158,000) a year by shifting to the service and reducing the number of legal notices it sends through the mail.

    Other notices that will be sent by text messages include information on fines and penalties.

    The service starts on Tuesday but will be fully implemented in 2006.