> Originally, these applications used Microsoft’s proprietary ActiveX technology. This only worked in Internet Explorer and severely hindered adoption of other browsers in South Korea.
This basically reveals that the pretext of this being primarily about increasing security of the connection is not really what it is about.
From having read about this, I think it is completely fair to classify this as spyware.
If at any point a government tells you they are doing something to increase security, or to be tough on crime, or to protect children, it is almost certain they are lying to your face and in fact just want more ways to spy on people.
More likely a massive and internally unrecognized incompetence than some black project from sneaky agencies. I remember some experts in 2000s fighting months to convince banks that TLS with self signed certificate is the way to get customers scammed.
This basically reveals that the pretext of this being primarily about increasing security of the connection is not really what it is about.
From having read about this, I think it is completely fair to classify this as spyware.