Korea is described by many as the global trendsetter for information and
communication technology. It's hard to believe that the country had merely
seven fixed-line telephone subscribers per 100 people just 20 years ago.
The government's efforts to expand electronic communications to support the
developing economy ended up creating a technology-mad environment where people
use their mobile handsets to watch television, access the Internet and pay
credit card bills.

Mobile-phone penetration, first exceeding the fixed-line segment by subscribers
in 1999, is now approaching 75 percent. Internet penetration passed the 70
percent mark at the end of last year, with more than 31 million of the
country's 48 million people having online access.

Last year, the International Telecommunications Union ranked Korea seventh in
its evaluation of telecommunications infrastructure.

The government's effort to complete a national computing backbone network and
consolidate public databases, or its e-government initiative, had an undeniable
influence in shaping Korea's electronic communication development. And the
state-run National Computerization Agency has been at the center in designing
Korea's national info-tech growth strategies and e-government projects.

The National Computerization Agency was established as a subsidiary of the
Ministry of Information and Communication in 1987 to design the policies for
the country's transformation into a knowledge-based information society. The
agency's main activities are supporting standardization efforts of information
flows and systems integrations in the public sector, auditing public sector
information systems and offering consultancy and guidance to policymakers and
businesses in the support of the national info-tech strategies.

The National Computerization Agency played crucial parts in various info-tech
projects nationwide in the past two decades, including the National Basic
Information System (1987-1991), Korea Information Infrastructure-Government
(1995-2005) and e-Government(2001-present).

The National Computerization Agency expects an increasing role in the future
with policymakers and business attempting to find new solutions to sustain
growth in one of the most connected countries both in wired and wireless
segments.

In a news conference last month, the agency said it would focus this year on
helping companies develop and commercialize next generation telecommunications
services promoted under the national info-tech strategy IT839. The broadband
convergence network (BcN), conceived as a massive Internet protocol where
people can connect from a wide range of terminals from nearly anywhere, and
radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology were designated as the main
research targets. The agency said it will invest 8.8 billion won this year to
help companies design and install the network infrastructure for the broadband
convergence network and 4.5 billion won to support companies deploy RFID-based
electronic tagging systems.

Information and communication technology is rapidly changing the way people
live and do business. Advanced countries are now aggressively pushing their
national info-tech strategies to realize their visions of a fully integrated
information-based society, said Suh Sam-young, president of the National
Computerization Agency.

The objective of the National Computerization Agency is to help people and the
industry to maximize the vast opportunities provided by Internet technology and
other advanced communication methods.

The National Computerization Agency saw its role grow in the recent years with
the government upping efforts to improve the delivery of public services
online. Most notably, the agency was designated to oversee the country's
e-government roadmap project in 2003.

With increasing responsibilities, the agency saw its work-force expand from
just 20 researchers in 1987 to today's 200-strong staff that includes info-tech
researchers, policymakers and law experts. The agency's budget was slated at
587 billion won for 2005, up from the 3.2 billion won in 1987.

Korea's e-government initiative dates back to the early 1980s when the
National Basis Information System, a road map plan to consolidate the
country's basic administrative information, was first put into action.

In the 1990s, the government improved its delivery of electronic services,
sophisticating the provision of public services online. People could now
register new-born babies, real estates and automobiles, apply for a new job and
search for the latest economic statistics by logging on their computers.

In 2001, the government launched the e-Government Special Committee to improve
the delivery of information and services to individuals and businesses. At the
same time, the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs inked the
e-government law, which became a foundation for the exchange of official
electronic documents.

Thanks to such efforts, Korea was ranked fifth by the United Nations in an
e-government evaluation of its 191 member states last year, up from its 13th
place finish in 2003. The survey was based on the quality of a country's public
online database and telecommunications infrastructure and human resource
development.

The National Computerization Agency furthered turned global last year by
providing consulting services to developing countries and strengthening
cooperative efforts with international organizations. In April last year, the
National Computerization Agency and the University of Chile jointly established
the Chile-Korea IT Cooperation Center to share ideas and experiences on the
direction of government info-tech strategies and industrial development. The IT
Cooperation Center is currently working on research and development activities
in several technology fields that include home-networking technology, Internet
protocol version 6 applications, e-government projects, multimedia over
Internet protocol applications and sensor-based network computing.

The Korean government had entered a free-trade agreement with Chile on April
last year, achieving substantial liberalization in bilateral trade in goods and
services. Chile has a 23 percent fixed-line penetration rate and a 42.8 percent
mobile penetration rate. Korea's exports to Chile on electronic communication
equipment were worth $38.5 million in 2002.

In 2003, the National Computerization Agency established the Mexico-Korea IT
Cooperation Center and has been supporting Mexico's e-government efforts and
the online consolidation of the country's public databases. The agency is also
providing consulting services to Morocco, Cambodia, Myanmar and Indonesia on
e-government projects.

The National Computerization Agency plans to expand its activities to
developing info-tech economies such as Costa Rica and Yemen awhile also
strengthen its collaboration with international organizations such as the World
Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the OECD to play a part in the
efforts to reduce the disparity in info-tech developments between countries.

We will continue our efforts this year to help developing countries design a
better information infrastructure and provide investment opportunities in those
countries for Korean businesses, said Suh.




By Kim Tong-hyung