2010-07 - Korea IT Times

July / August 2010 | Vol. 73 / 74 

Cover Story 

Convergence of IT, 

Tourism and Culture 

A Sneak Preview of IMID 2010 

Let’s Make Korea 

an Undisputed IT Powerhouse! 

The Mecca of Information 

Education 

Gyeonggi Province Pushes 

for IT-Based Social Welfare 

Safety Net 

GFEZ Develops 

Seven Industrial Estates 

to Attract Investment 

Exhibition Prime Time-Web 2.0 

Korea Electronics Show 

Yu In-chon, Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) 

U.S. $10.00 / KOR.₩12,000 

7/8 

ISSN 1739-2950 

13th floor, iStation B/D, 561-31 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea (133-890) 

Government registration No. Seoul-Ra-10914 Tel: (82-2)3459-0671 Fax: (82-2)3459-0656 

www.koreaittimes.com

ISSN 1739-2950 

July/August 2010 | Vol. 73/74 

Publisher 

Kim Tae-sub, Dr. Cho Sung-kap 

Chairman | Han Kon-ju 

President 

Chung Youn-boo (Monica) 

Lim Se-jong 

Special Advisor 

Dr. Shin Kook-hwan, Dr. Yang Seung-taik 

Dr. Kim Hak-su, Dr. Youn Hwa-Jin 

Dr. Park Ho-gun, Dr. Kim Wan-soon 

Advisor 

Cha Joo-hak, Lee Sung-man, 

Lim Kyung-hee 

Chief Editor 

Monica Chung 

Managing Director 

Henry Chun 

Bae Dal-byul 

Supplement Director 

Kim Joo-hyung 

Managing Editor Chun Go-eun (clair) 

Staff Writer Lee Kyong-hwan 

Assistant Editor Nick Antolini 

Staff Reporters 

Yeon Choul-woong, Donna Vitasovich, 

Kim Yearim, Lee Kyung-min, 

Daniel Ko, Song Kyu-yeol, Lee Si-young 

Yoon Yo-tam, Steve Kwak, Kim Sun-hong, 

Park Se-jin, James Lee 

Realtime News Team 

Oh Hae-young, Lee Chung-moo 

Jeon Kyung-sook, Koo Won-hum, Sam Roe 

 

 

 

 




The Mecca of Information 

Education 


for IT-Based Social Welfare 

Safety Net 

GFEZ Develops 

Seven Industrial Estates 


Exhibition Prime Time-Web 2.0 


 

Yu In-chon is Minister of Ministry of Culture, 

Sports and Tourism. He was born in the city 

of Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, Korea in 

1951 and graduated with the bacheolor 

degree in theater and film from Chung-Ang 

University. He started his career as a TV and 

Theater actor. He has been placing a higher 

value on Korea’s cultural contents industry 

and pushing for improving the people’s 

awareness and understanding of tourism 

Korea after he was elected. 

Nowadays, Minister Yu is propelling a project 

to construct advanced tourism information 

cities in the country. “I will continuously 

push for a project that combines state-ofthe-art 

IT technology and tourism resources 

to attract more foreign tourists to the country.” 

said Yu. 

13th floor, 561-31 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea (133-890) 

Government registration No. Seoul-Ra-10914 Tel: (82-2)3459-0671 Fax: (82-2)3459-0656 

www.koreaittimes.com 

Columnists 

Choi Sung, Ko Ki-wan 

Kim Kyung-nam, Moon Kim, Park Se-jin 

Lee Edward, Lee Jun-young 

Freelance Reporter 

Matthew Weigand, Tim Alper 

Photographer 

Shin Sung-won 

Marketing Manager 

Kim Jae-hwan 

Knowledge Information Team 

Chung Young-tae, Cho Hee-sang 

Business Manager 

Kim Chang-ho 

Circulation Manager 

Park Mi-jung 

Administration Manager Kim Si-hwan 

Sales Manager 

Yoon Jong-jin 

Publication Team Manager Ko Yeon-sang 

Financial Auditor 

Choi Eun-kyung 

Financial Secretory 

Cho Hye-kyung 

Correspondents 

N.America 

Illinois | Steve Kwak, Yoon Yo-tam 

Boston | Kim Sun-hong 

New York | Park Sejin, Kim In-sik 

Wasington D.C. | Lee Jun-young, David J.Ahlgren 

San Fransicso | Seth Hutchinson 

Europe 

Germany | Agnieszka Wykowska 

France | Mario Mongilardi 

United Kingdom | lgor Verner 

Southeast Asia | Lee Jin-bok 

Far East | Kim Moon-soo 

China | Cathy Ding 

Oceania | You In-kyung 

SW Asia | Akram Koultakji 

M.East | Chris Christodoulou 

Magazine Design | Kim Seung-o 

C o n t e n t s 

World Class Products 

09 AhnLab’s Total PC Security Solution 

“V3 Internet Security 8.0” 

10 Women’s Life Saver, Marbel Pro 

11 It Heats Up! It is Edgy! 

It is the ThermoQ! 

12 Gas Cleaning Canisters for Cars 

Product 

13 Pantech Releases the SKY IM-A650S 

Vega: The Newest Smartphone 

on the Market 

Analysis 

14 What Does U-City Subvert 

in its Forward Motion? 

Business 

23 LG Chem Has a New electronic 

vehicle battery factory 

in Holland City 

Event Preview 

24 A Sneak Preview of IMID 2010 

28 Exhibition Prime Time – Web 2.0 


30 ITC Fair 2010 to be held at Songdo 

Convensia, Incheon in November 

32 The 4th Asia Ministerial Conference 

on Disaster Risk Reduction Will be 

Held in Korea 

Overseas Sales/Distribution Agents (Reference: www.koreaittimes.com) | Korea IT Times Guide. Published by Korea IT Times Tel: (82-2)3459-0664/0621/0678/0671 | Fax: (82-2)3459-0656 

13th floor, iStation Building, 561-31 Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea (133-050) | http://www.koreaittimes.com | E-mail: info@koreaittimes.com | Under the pertinent 

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| Newsstand in South Korea: US$ 10.00(12,000 won)per copy | Within South Korea: US$110.00 (132,000won) per year (12 issues) | Asia: US$ 150.00 per year (12 issues) | N.America, Europe 

and Middle East: US$ 200.0 per year (12 issues) | Africa, Central and South America and South Pacific: US$ 225.00 per year (12 issues)

Events 

33 The Korea Real 3D Content 

Production Association Has a Kick- 

Off Ceremony 

34 LG U+ Takes Flight 

U-health 

36 The Road Ahead - What is the 

Ubiquitous Hospital? 

Policy 

38 Let’s Make Korea an Undisputed IT 

Powerhouse! 

Academia 

42 The Mecca of Information Education 

Open GyeongGi-Do 

44 Gyeonggi Province Pushes for IT- 

Based Social Welfare Safety Net 

Celebration 

46 ‘Pioneer’ is the name of TG Sambo 

Electronics Special 

48 Tracing 50 Years of Korea's 

Electronics Industry Development 

FEZ 

50 GFEZ Develops Seven Industrial 

Estates to Attract Investment 

Trade 

52 Embark on a new goal 

with a new title, K-sure 

Electric Power 

54 KEPCO Leads Campaign for Low 

Carbon, Green Growth 

56 KEPCO E&C Launches Hybrid SCR 

DeNOx Systems 

Debate 

55 Technology and Traditional Food, 

Can it Work? 

Country Report 

57 Overview of the Republic 

of Côte d’Ivoire 

Interview 

60 IC2 US/Korea Innovation, Results 

Card is Coming, and it's Good News 

Investment Guide 58 

How to.. 

62 How to Design a Safe Nano Robot 

or Virus 

Column 

64 Computer United, 

The Republic of Korea 

Cover Story 

16 MCST Pushes Convergence of IT, 

Tourism and Culture 

19 Foreign Tourists get special benefits 

during Vist Korea Year 

20 KOCIS is at the Forefront, 

Promoting Korean Culture 

around the World 

www.koreaittimes.com 7


AhnLab’s Total PC Security Solution 

“V3 Internet Security 8.0” 

AhnLab V3 Internet Security 8.0’s interoperation with “AhnLab Policy Center” 

(a central management solution) and “AhnLab TrusGuard” (a network security appliance) enables companies’ 

across-the-board security management. 

V3 Internet Security 8.0 is a Windows 7 

compatible anti-malware suite by AhnLab 

(a Korean security solutions company, 

www.ahnlab.com) and a revolutionary 

improvement on its predecessor. It is the 

world's lightest and fastest total antivirus 

solution with new malicious code detection 

features on board, which guarantee 

an enhanced defense against malicious 

code attacks. AhnLab V3 IS 8.0 offers 

both anti-virus and anti-spyware engines 

to further enhance user convenience. 

AhnLab V3 IS 8.0 has become the first 

total PC security solution to obtain 

Common Criteria EAL3 Certification. It 

offers a panoply of functions including a 

firewall, IPS (Intrusion Prevention 

System), anti-phishing, PC optimization 

features, website filtering, complete file 

deletion, email security (spam filtering) 

and execution blocking not to mention antivirus 

and antispyware functions. These 

varied and distinctive features make V3 IS 

8.0 standout among other anti-virus solutions 

products. 

What's more, it has become the first 

Windows 7 compatible anti-malware suite 

after successfully passing a Windows 7 interoperability 

test. AhnLab V3 IS 8.0 also 

integrates with Central policy management 

solution, "AhnLab Policy Center 

4.0" and network security appliance 

"AhnLab TrusGuard" thereby enabling 

companies' across-the-board security management. 

Furthermore, AhnLab V3 IS 8.0 boasts 

a 24-hour, 365-day interface with worldclass 

emergency response organization 

"ASEC (AhnLab Security E-response 

Center)" and "CERT (Computer Emergency 

Response Team)," which helps V3 

IS 8.0 block malicious codes and hacking 

attempts in real-time. 

AhnLab has applied its innovative, 

next-generation technology "V3 New 

Framework" to V3 IS 8.0 so as to make 

malicious code scanning twice as fast and 

halve its memory usage compared to its 

predecessor. 

AhnLab V3 IS has been reborn as the 

world's lightest and fastest total anti-virus 

solution that retains the user-favored features 

of its predecessor. Noteworthy are 

V3 IS 8.0's new malicious code detection 

features such as Blacklist and TrueFind. 

V3 Internet Security 8.0 

Blacklist prevents execution of programs 

that are unnecessary or prone to misuse 

and TrueFind diagnoses and repairs hidden 

malicious codes such as rootkits. 

In addition, AhnLab V3 IS 8.0 has efficiently 

consolidated highly-certified antivirus 

and anti-spyware engines into a total 

security solution and has fully incorporated 

the integration feature into the product 

architecture in a bid to ensure swift response 

to new malicious codes and enhance 

user convenience. While other solutions 

offer anti-spyware as a supplement to 

their anti-virus feature, V3 IS 8.0 has been 

seamlessly integrated with a professional 

anti-spyware security solution. 

Yeon Choul-woong/ bruceyeon@koreaittimes.com 



Women’s Life Saver, Marbel Pro 

Being slim needs endless efforts. We all 

know that diet and regular exercise are 

mandatory but it is not as easy as it 

sounds. All the occasions such as late 

work and friends gathering just keep interrupting 

our determination. However, who 

says that another door opens when one 

door closes. Here is the opened door, 

Marbel Pro, the electrodessication medical 

instrument by Daeyang Medical Co., 

LTD (http://daeyangmed.fixmedia.kr). 

It boasts its power ever since it was selected 

as a world class product in 2009. 

Unlike the previous medical machine 

which was applied the Monopolar way, 

The Marbel Pro is conducted by Three 

and Hexapolar, the new and innovative 

method to tighten and firm human skin. It 

is very helpful for making someone slim 

and works in part by increasing blood circulation 

as well as self confidence. 

The Multipolar RF system shows big 

differences. Since the machine offers CET 

and Multipolar applications and its innovative 

in the placement of the electrodes, it 

maximizes the amount of heat to the heart 

of a location with a just little energy. It is 

needed requiring much lower energy than 

other RF technologies. It also avoids heating 

to other tissues and selectively concentrates 

its RF energy on adipose tissue and 

epidermal tissue. What else do you need? 

It offers no pain and creates best effects 

with low energy. There are some other noticeable 

features as well. Mabel Pro is the 

revolutionary marriage of Multi-Polar and 

Monopolar Radio Frequencies which 

means it is very effective for tissue tightening 

and fat reduction. Also, since there is 

no need for cooling, it reduces the treatment 

time. 

10 KOREA IT TIMES | July 2010 

It can be used in medicine and cosmetics. 

Multi-Polar and Monopolar combination 

is synergistic and allows reduction of 

the required intensity of each and thus 

minimizes side effects and possibly increases 

effectiveness. Also it utilizes sophisticated 

control algorithms for optimizing 

the concurrent application of the two 

Marbel Pro 

The high-frequency electric, Marbel Pro filters 

into the deeper fat layer 

types of RF. The treatment focuses on 

both superficial and deeper fat layers. The 

result is visible after the first treatment. It 

almost is too good to be true. All the 

women might have to thank to Daeyang 

Medical Co., LTD. for reducing their fat 

and hard work to be slim. 

KimYearim/ yearim@koreaittimes.com


It Heats Up! It is Edgy! 

It is the ThermoQ! 

Heating Film, it might be unfamiliar to 

you, but it will become familiar. This heating 

technology is the next heating equipment. 

In the middle of technical changes, 

Uniplatek Co., Ltd released 'ThermoQ' 

which is the heater planted in the heating 

film. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy 

already recognized its goodness and 

chose it as a World Class Product in 2009. 

ThermoQ (http://www.thermoq.com), 

driven by Cutting Edge Safety Systems, is 

healthy with infrared rays and anion radiation 

and is an environment friendly product. 

It has no combustion and no hazardous 

smell. Addi-tionally, since it is easy 

and fast to install, it is convenient and economical. 

It even gets ahead without temperature 

variations. Due to its convenient 

installation, the company is in the business 

of DIY heating modules. The kit is composed 

of one set of modules (customized 

sizes available), thermostats, power codes, 

temperature sensors, overheat protecting 

PTC sensors and wire molding. 

In addition, Cutting Edge Safety Systems 

with PTC sensors is a 'cannot miss' when 

ThermoQ is introduced. Uniplatek developed 

PTC sensors with their technology 

and it is designated as NEW (New Excellent 

Technology). How so? It can perfectly 

control partial overheating that could 

cause fire. Unlike conventional thermostats 

using only one or two simple sensors, thermostats 

uniquely designed can cover lots 

of PTC sensors as needed. Most importantly 

what this electric appliance manufacturer 

cares about the most is safety. 

Uniplatek Co., Ltd., established in 2000, 

is specialized in developing and manufacturing 

advanced materials and heating 

products including Film Heaters, Heating 

Vests & Blankets, Foot Heaters, Picture 

Frame Heaters and many others. This 

company has acquired a variety of certificates 

all over the world such as UL (Underwriters 

Laboratories Inc.), CE (Common 

Era), GOST-R, PSE, EK and lots of 

patents. And this company takes the lead 

on green technology. 

The firm's Heater is the only heating 

product among others, which was selected 

as a Korean World-class Product by the 

Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The 

main advantage of ThermoQ heating film 

compared to other heating films in Korea 

is safety with PTC sensors using specially 

designed thermostats. It is good to have a 

company like Uniplatek. The company, as 

a leading technology company, keeps 

ahead by continuously trying to develop 

technologies for customers' health and 

comfort. 

KimYearim/ yearim@koreaittimes.com 

Heating Film enables to carry the heat evenly 

DIY Heating Module 



Gas Cleaning Canisters 

for Cars 

KOBD 

The Korea Fuel Tech Corporation is a 

global automotive components company 

(http://kftc.inkorea.net). The corporation 

make components for manufacturers 

as well as stand-alone components such as 

cup holders and ashtrays for cars. But the 

company has achieved fame for additional 

innovations in accordance with the greening 

of the automotive industry. 

The Korea Fuel Tech Corporation were 

awarded a title for a 'world class product' 

for their carbon canister. The corporation 

have a few versions of the canister and can 

make customized versions. "The carbon 

canister receives HC vapor from the fuel 

tank, stores HC vapor by exothermal absorption 

while releasing air to the environment, 

and releases vapor to the powertrain 

(engine) upon demand," said Korea 

Fuel Tech Corporation. 

The Korea Fuel Tech Corporation's 

canister stores fuel in charcoal while a car 

is idle and then redistributes the fuel once 

the engine is started again. The system prevents 

air pollution and fuel wastage by removing 

noxious materials and discharging 

them. 

The Korea Fuel Tech Corporation is a 

number one manufacturer in Korea and 

the 4th most renown canister manufacturing 

company in the world. The company 

has over 24 years experience related to 

canister manufacturing. The components 

for the canisters are sourced locally and 

the canisters are also designed locally. 

The Korea Fuel Tech Corporation have 

the ability to provide a competitive canister 

or design and build with complete 

EURO V 

KOBD 

evaporative emissions systems as follows: 

- Simplified canisters, 

- Internal and external auxiliary 

canisters, 

- Canister close valve for on-board 

diagnostics with air filters to hold 

dust and foreign substances, 

- Hoses and tubes with connectors, 

- Mounting brackets to install on the 

vehicle. 

They also have design ability to integrate 

sub-components in/on canister modules 

in order to fulfill orders or custimzed 

requirements. 

The company has, through their innovations 

of their World Class product, got a 

lot of canister patents for design applications 

registered in Korea and in the U.S.A. 

Testing ability and processes for verifying 

canisters for durability and functional 

testing are conducted before being manufactured 

and to verify emission values of 

fuel systems and canisters. 

Korea IT Times / info@koreaittimes.com 

PZEV 

12 KOREA IT TIMES | July 2010

Product 

Pantech Releases the SKY IM-A650S Vega: 

The Newest Smartphone on the Market 

On July 15, 2010, Korean electronics 

manufacturing company Pantech released 

their android phone in the smartphone 

market, the Pantech SKY IM-A650S 

Vega. This release marks the newest available 

smartphone in the growing market. 

This Sky Vega runs on Android 2.1 OS 

(Operating System) with 3D branded interface 

as well as a 1GHz Qualcomm 

Snapdragon processor. The Vega features 

a 3.7 inch touchscreen AMOLED display 

with a 480 X 800 pixel resolution, a 115.95 

x 59.4 x 10.95 (mm) screen, 5 megapixel 

camera with recording 720p HD video format, 

500 mb of internal memory, a slot for 

microSD/microSDHC card(8 gb card included 

and can be upgraded until 32 gb), 

3.5 mm headphone jack, T-DMB, Bluetooth, 

Wi-Fi and GPS. Also, it can be 

used as a portable media device, which 

means it can play DivX and Xvid video 

format. The phone will be available 

through SK Telecom. 

Reasons to buy Pantech's Vega: 

Variety of Colors 

Usually, people say smartphones look 

boring and bulky, but Vega is different. 

SKY, the manufacturer of the phone, 

provides their customers with a variety of 

colors. First there is the white and black 

color, and then there are other colors to 

choose from such as pink and gold brown, 

which has never been seen on a smartphone. 

Human friendly phone 

Pantech's Vega is compact sized as well 

as lightweight which also provides a solid 

grip unlike other smartphones. The weight 

of the Vega is only 114 grams, while Samsung's 

Galaxy S weighs 121 grams and 

Apple's iPhone 4 weighs 137 grams. 

It has everything and anything is possible 

Pantech's Vega optimizes all the features 

of Google as well as many other applications. 

It maximizes the use of all of 

their applications and features a capacitive 

multitouch screen. Also, this smartphone 

has the capability to pre-load t-cash for the 

first time, which allows it's users to use it 

for public transportation. 

Good quality screen that's fun to use 

Pantech SKY IM-A650S Vega 

Perfect embodiment of the real 3D UI 

(User Interface). It features a 3.7 inch 

AMOLED touch screen with a high resolution. 

The 3D UI gives the Vega a good 

quality screen that makes it fun and exciting 

for all of it's users. 

Handy & Comfortable 

Pantech's Vega provides it's users with a 

computer-like internet environment with 

the Flash engine feature. At the side of the 

Vega, there is a hardware key, which allows 

it's users to Google search with their 

voice. 

Daniel Ko/ danielko@koreaittimes.com 


Analysis 

What Does U-City Subvert 

in its Forward Motion? 

A sketch assessment of how U-City might transform as judged by what it may subvert 

In April 2010 Korea signed an MOU 

with the World Bank to propagate ICT in 

developing countries for the transformation 

of those countries. But how does the 

unveiled, at Global Smart 2010, U-City 

plan for Korea stack up in terms of what it 

transforms? Aside from the gloss talk on 

the obviously successful Korean Digital 

strategy, there is a deeper dialogue. 

Subversion is the aggressive undermining 

of systems. According to Yuri Bezmenov, 

as cited on youtube, a country can 

be subverted in the following areas and 

wind up changed: Education, religion, law 

and order, power structures and labor relations. 

This article looks at how the U-City 

plan might transform in terms of what it 

may subvert. 

To subvert : Indigenous religion must 

be ridiculed and replaced with small cults 

to detract. 

K U-City : Not expressly implied. 

To subvert : Education should not be 

pragmatic. 

K U-City : Not expressly implied. 

To subvert : Power Structures, should 

take away links between people and replace 

with bureaucracy. 


K U-City 

a) Social networking, a component of U- 

IT, subverts socialisation and ways of 

socialising essentially replacing with a 

bureaucracy, if a bureaucracy is viewed 

in terms of changing the way thing are 

managed. Further, goverments have 

made it their realm to initiate subtle attempts 

at underming social behavior 

and culture by attempts at policing behaviors 

they have not had control of before, 

in most countries anti-cyberbullying 

is a rule system based on adverse adherence 

punishment, yet in Korea, the 

goal of the anti-cyberbullying program, 

which is a fair thing to police normally, 

is sunny-ness, positive comments made 

to people. This could be viewed as an 

undermining of social hierarchies by the 

assumption that it is government that 

knows best, thereby a subtle relinquishing 

of a type of power. 

b) Distance education entails a new bureaucracy 

and disestablishes human 

links. 

c) e-govt. used for the express purpose of 

staff reductions destroys human links 

and replaces with bureaucracy. 

d) U-IT/IPTV entails a new bureaucracy 

and disestablishes human links. 

To subvert : law and order should consist 

of moral relativity and a slow substitution 

of moral principles. 

K U-City 

a) e-govt/civil processes introduce new 

'game like' rules where if a system malfunctions 

a civil servant might, irrespective 

of the law, willfully ignore crime. 

This oversight is remedied in the 

Korean situation where all those in 

Korea are required to report all crimes, 

a higher law, though the 'game like' 

rules could prolong a process if abused 

via ignorance [who knows everything 

right?] or purposefully. This is a type of 

subversion of moral principles as it is 

subject to moral relativity via the introduction 

of a perception of choice in law 

adherence as the system if new and 

anomalies untested. E-civil processes, if 

the humans operating them abide by 

law, do not appear to impact moral relativity 

adversely. 

b) RFID if employed beyond bracelets on 

convicts, the subject of which is an international 

debate, could be open to abuse 

by ill intentions or a collapse in exercise 

of political structure type. The use of 

RFID for citizen law and order is more 

open to the abuse end of the spectrum in 

terms of moral relativity and a subsequent 

substitution of moral principles.

Analysis 

c) U-IT/IPTV initiates new crime. As I 

write this there are two unknown and 

unwanted c2c networks snooping the 

notebook I write on, one traceable to 

Yongsan, the other to California. 

d) U Health/Welfare is one of the systems 

like ‘a)’ that are as good as the people 

operating them. New rules or 'game like' 

rules are not yet apparent. Could be subject 

to the same caveats as ‘a).’ 

To subvert : labor relations, bargaining 

and negotiation between employer and 

employee or buyer and seller should be destroyed 

and replaced with a third party. 

K U-City not expressly 

implied. 

This discussion does not conclude that 

the goal of U-City is to subvert, it looks at 

what it might subvert in an effort to table 

what that means. The main areas that appear 

to be able to be subverted under the 

U-City plan are power stuctures in the 

way we relate to goverment, educators, socially 

and social skills as well as culture 

and cultural hierarchies. Also, law and order 

might be subverted via surveillance, relation 

styles with civil servants, political 

stucture types, crime types and prevention 

remedies as well as ways of relating to 

health and welfare practitioners. I have no 

space for a longer discussion. It might be 

asked, well this is all very nice and you 

drew a nice diagram, but what does it 

mean? It means that the U-City plan is capable 

of subverting and subversion comes 

with tangible, as the Korean government 

knows, and intangible costs. The example 

question I leave you with is what is the immediate 

and long term cost of goverment 

control of polite behavior in a online culture? 

Remembering that this is an element 

of socialising that the government has absolutely 

never had a say in, until now. This 

is one of the overt subversion of socialisation 

elements directly attributable to the 

U-City infrastructure. What are the costs of 

potential subversion of all of these things 

compared to the gains? Is the subversion 

taking Korea where it wants to go? 

Donna vitasovich / donnavitasovich@koreaittimes.com 


Cover Story 

MCST Pushes Convergence 

of IT, Tourism and Culture 


Yu In-chon, Minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) 

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) is actively 

pushing ahead with building advanced tourism information [IT 

assisted tourism] cities across the country, a top official of the 

ministry said. 

In an interview with 

Korea IT Times, Yu Inchon, 

minister of MCST, 

said, "The ministry is propelling 

a project to construct 

advanced tourism 

information cities in the 

country to promote users' 

convenience." 

Noting that advanced 

countries are paying keen 

attention to the advent of 

the ubiquitous era, a new 

paradigm of information 

technology, Minister Yu 

said, "To actively cope 

with the ubiquitous information 

era, the government 

is concentrating its 

efforts on building ubiquitous 

information systems." 

Commenting that various 

services based on mobile 

technology are active 

these days in keeping with 

the advent of the ubiquitous 

era, he said, "The nation's tourism industry, however, is facing 

many difficulties in creating services using the ubiquitous 

technology owing to insufficient accumulation and use of information 

technology. Accordingly, the ministry is making all-out 

efforts to expand digital contents services related to tourism resources. 

"To build advanced tourism information systems suitable for 

ubiquitous environment and strengthen the nation's status as an 

IT powerhouse, we are constructing advanced tourism information 

cities in the country," he said. 

The ministry is planning to make North Chungcheong 

Province and Yeongdeok in North Gyeongsang Province advanced 

tourism information 

cities this year. It already carried 

out the project to build 

advanced tourism information 

cities in 10 places, including 

Andong and Sockcho in 

2005, Tongyeong and Boryeong 

in 2006, Busan and 

Gongju in 2007, Incheon and 

Daegu in 2008 and South jeolla 

Province and Gwangju in 

2009. 

"We also introduced the 

'unmanned tourism guide system" 

using cultural resources 

and IT infrastructure to 

Gyeongbok Palace on June 1, 

2010. Through the system, we 

plan to attract more foreign 

tourists and enhance convenience 

for domestic and foreign 

tourists," he said. 

Related to this, Minister Yu 

is also making a strong push 

for the "everywhere I-walk 

project" in major tourist spots 

across the country, including 

Gyeongju, once the capital of the Silla Dynasty. 

"We will continuously push for a project that combines stateof-the-art 

IT technology and tourism resources to attract more foreign 

tourists to the country," said Yu. 

Identity of Tourism Korea 

Asked about the identity of differentiated "tourism Korea," 

Minister Yu said, "Advanced tourist countries are equipped with

Cover Story 

MOU on Tourism Cooperation Between the MCST of Korea and MCST of Vietnam 

core tourism resources and brand images 

that could lure foreign tourists. For instance, 

Australia possesses the Opera 

House as its representative tourism image; 

Paris, the Eiffel Tower; China, the Great 

Wall of China; the U.S., the Statue of 

Liberty; and Britain, the guards." 

Saying that Korea also has core attraction 

and tourism image that can attract 

foreign tourists, Yu said, "It is a complex 

image, which harmonizes traditional factors 

and modern factors. For example, 

temple stay or Gyeongbok Palace works 

as Korea's indigenous spiritual culture or 

historical cultural resource to tourists from 

the U.S. and Europe. In the meantime, 

tourists from Asia, including China and 

Japan, regard Nanta, a popular South 

Korean musical, B-Boy, Hallyu and shopping 

as Korea's modern, attractive and sophisticated 

image." 

He said that Korea, in fact, is insufficient 

in heralding a powerful tourism 

brand and image to foreign countries, even 

though the government is going all-out to 

build the brand image of tourism Korea. 

"Accordingly, we will make policy efforts 

to build a powerful brand of tourism 

Korea by making the best use of such representative 

contents as Korea's indigenous 

spiritual culture, dynamics, modern sophistication 

and global-level tourism resources," 

said Yu. 

Policy to Develop 3D Contents 

On the development of contents that 

will lead the 3D revolution, Minister Yu 

said, "The paradigm shift from 2D to 3D is 

expected to be made at a rapid pace, influenced 

by box-office successes of such 3D 

movies as 'AVATAR' and 'Alice in Wonderland' 

and the South African World 

Cup relay of ESPN through 3D TV." 

Commenting that most 3D content developed 

by Korea is for entertainment 

shown at amusement parks or museums, 

he said, "As a result, Korea still falls 3-5 

years behind the U.S. in terms of content 

manufacturing technology. However, the 

prospect is bright as a variety of performances 

and documentaries using 3D content 

are being developed nowadays. For 

instance, directors Yoon Jae-kyun and 

Kwack Gyeong-taek produced 3D 

movies, titled, 'The 7th Mine Lot' and 'We 

Are Beautiful,' respectively." 

The minister said that MCST, along 

with the Ministry of Knowledge Economy 

and the Korea Communications Commission, 

mapped out a strategy for development 

of the 3D industry in April this year 

to foster the 3D content industry as the nation's 

new growth engine, which will lead 

the global 3D industry. 

As a follow-up step, the MCST also announced 

a plan to foster the 3D content industry 

in May 2010, which suggested a vision 

and a goal to lead the global market. 

Under the ambitious plan, Korea projects 

to produce 20 percent of all video content 

through 3D technology by 2015. 

"To this end, we will build manufacturing 

infrastructure, foster competitive manpower, 

activate manufacture of 3D content, 

strengthen technology development 

and accelerate advancement into global 

markets," said Yu. 

The minister also said, "Through this 

project, we expect the nation's 3D content 

industry to create 2.5 trillion won worth of 

new market growth by 2015 and offer 

15,000 jobs to young people who failed to 

land a job because of serious youth unemployment 

problem." 

Characteristics of Online 

Games 

On the characteristics of online games, 

which is riding on the Korean wave of 

Hallyu and its development prospects, 

Minister Yu said, "Online games are one 

of Korea's representative content items, 

which are widely recognized as having 

high competitiveness in the global market. 

Korea's exports of online games surpassed 

the USD 1 billion mark in 2008, and 

soared to USD 1.5 billion in 2009. Such 

successful achievement of Korea's online 

games was possible through a combination 

of creative stories, excellent content 

technology, strategic business models and 

persistent R&D investment." 

Meanwhile, as the online game market 

is becoming bigger and bigger globally, 

competition among major countries in the 

global market is becoming fiercer than 

ever before, he said. 

"Under these circumstances, Korea's 

online game industry needs to come out 

with more aggressive and strategic countermeasures, 

including finding out new 

game markets," said the minister. 

He said that smart phones and tablet 


Cover Story 

PCs recently created new game markets and that the 3D game 

sector grows at a rapid pace thanks to development of advanced 

3D technology. 

"In addition, I think such functional games as those for education, 

training and treatment have a high possibility of being developed 

into new growth engines for the nation's game industry," 

said Yu. 

Yu became the longest-serving minister on Feb. 14. The actorturned-minister 

Yu broke the longest serving record (one year, 11 

months and 14 days) set by former Minister Lee O-young who 

held the post from Jan. 3, 1990 to Dec. 19, 1991. 

Since his inauguration on Feb. 29 in 2008, Yu has been appreciated 

as a "field-oriented" minister as he has been active in visiting 

various regions to encourage artists and promote cultural policies. 

The following is main content of the interview with Minister of 

Culture, Sports and Tourism Yu In-chon. 

Q: Do you have any strategy to globalize Korean culture in 

preparation for the 2010 Korea G20 Summit? 

A: Korea will host the 2010 G20 Summit in November this year, in 

which heads of states, finance ministers, central bank governors 

and other dignitaries of many foreign countries are to participate. 

We are now collecting good ideas to herald Korean culture and 

tradition to all over the world during the G20 summit period. 

During the global event period, we plan to invite participants in the 

G20 meeting, including journalists and business leaders, to 

Korea's representative traditional programs to be played at major 

theaters. 

Besides, we plan to invite foreign guests to a "temple stay" program 

and other events to visit ancient palaces and experience 

Korea's unique tradition and culture. Even after the G20 Summit, 

we will continue implementing such cultural programs to enhance 

foreign visitors' understanding of Korean culture. 

Q: Would you introduce major tourism products and international 

events for the 2010-2012 Visit Korea Years? 

A: First of all, we will hold various festivals this year to provide foreign 

tourists with many chances to see and enjoy Korea's traditional 

festivals, including the Hallyu Festival to be held in Gyeongju 

on Sept. 11-14, Busan Fireworks Festival in Busan on Oct. 21-23, 

the World Foods Tourism Festival in Jeonju on Oct. 21-27. 

In addition, the ministry will actively support provincial governments' 

overseas marketing activities to attract foreign tourists to 

such big events as the 2010 Great Baekje World Festival to be held 

in Gongju and Buyeo in South Chungcheong Province on Sept. 18- 

Oct. 17 and 2010 Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix to be held in 

Yeongam in South Jeolla Province. 

To activate foreigners' shopping tours to Korea, the nation will hold 

the Seoul Grand Sale during the July 21-Sept. 12 period and the 

Jeon Woo Chi 2009 

Korea Grand Sale in winter season. 

At the same time, we selected 24 tourist spots in the country, 

which have interesting stories related to Korea's unique culture 

and tradition. We are actively supporting travel agencies to help 

them develop the 24 places as the nation's key tourism products in 

close cooperation with provincial governments. 

We will make the best use of such big international events as G20 

Summit and Formula 1 Korean Grand Prix to herald Korea's traditional 

culture history and tourism information to foreign tourists. 

Q: Do you have any other plan to attract more foreign tourists 

to Korea? 

A: To achieve the 2010 target of attracting 8.5 million foreign 

tourists, we are now staging a nationwide campaign to treat foreign 

tourists with a cordial and hospitable attitude at all places, including 

airport immigration office, shopping centers, hotels and 

restaurants. 

The ministry is also dispatching a special team to foreign countries 

to hold explanatory meetings to introduce Korea's tourism attractions, 

various tourist goods and many incentives related to accommodation 

and transportation to foreigners. 

www.mcst.go.kr 



Cover Story 

Foreign Tourists get special benefits 

during Vist Korea Year 

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) of 

Korea implements its programs during the Visit Korea Year 

to attract more foreign tourists. "The 2010~2012 Visit Korea 

Year Committee (VKC) is making a strong push for four 

major projects in 2010 - differentiated overseas marketing by 

market, affluent incentives for foreign tourists when they visit 

Korea, special events offering something to see and enjoy, 

and a campaign to improve greeting services for foreign 

tourists," Dr. Cho Hyun-jae, Director General of the 

Tourism Industry Bureau of MCST, said. The MCST aims 

to attract more than 10 million foreign tourists every year, attain 

over USD13 billion in tourism revenue and secure a No. 

21 position in terms of global tourism competitiveness. 

Dr. Cho Hyun-jae, Director General of Tourism Industry Bureau of MCST 

Kim Yu-na, Bae Yong-jun, PR ambassadors 

Related to this, the 2009 Olympic figure skating 

champion Kim Yu-na and famous 'Hallyu" star Bae 

Yong-jun are serving as PR ambassadors for the Visit 

Korea Year. "First of all, we plan to dispatch a special 

tourism sales promotion team to China and Japan to 

attract tourists from neighboring countries. We will also 

stage active PR marketing by holding regular explanatory 

meetings to introduce Korea's tourism resources 

to foreigners at overseas offices of Korea 

Tourism Organization," Dr. Cho said. He said, "In 

particular, the committee will engage in active promotion 

activity to help foreign tourists attend such global 

Kim Yu-na(left), Bae Yong-jun are serving as PR ambassador for the Visit Korea Year 

events to be held in South Korea such as the World 

Design Capital Seoul 2010, the World Championships in Athletics Daegu 2011 and International Exposition Yeosu Korea 2012." 

To let foreign tourists see the attractive appearances of provincial regions in the country, VKC also plans to hold the 2010 Hallyu 

Festival in Gyeongju, the World Food Tourism Festival in Jeonju, and Busan's Fireworks Festival. Dr. Cho said, "For development 

of high-quality tourism products linked with the festivals, the committee is maintaining close tie-ups with relevant provincial governments." 

He continued to say, "In addition, it will stage the welcoming service campaign for foreign tourists with the start of the 

inauguration of the Smile Supporters' group comprising college students." 

Incentives for foreign tourists 

MCST (www.mcst.go.kr) is also implementing a program to decentralize foreign tourists centering on Seoul to provincial regions 

and attract more foreign tourists by offering incentives to shopping centers and lodging facilities. "For instance, more than 20 

hotels are applying the 'one more night program' to foreign visitors, with which they can stay one more night at hotel in case of more 

than three-night stay in Korea," Dr. Cho said. "Besides, many shopping centers across the country are holding the Korea Grand 

Sale event, which provides foreign tourists with various incentives, including discount coupon service," he added. 



Cover Story 

KOCIS is at the Forefront, Promoting 

Korean Culture around the World 

The Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) is at the forefront of promoting 

Korean culture around the world. KOCIS(www.kocis.go.kr) is part of the 

Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and engaged in overseas promotion of 

Korean culture, government-to-government cultural exchanges and cooperation and 

national image enhancement. It is also running Korean Cultural Centers and Korea 

Centers around the world to strategically facilitate its PR activities. KOCIS has been 

adapting its PR strategy to take advantage of social media. What's more, KOCIS 

Cultural Delegations contribute to overseas promotion of Korean culture in a bottomup 

manner. 

Korea IT Times sat down with Seo Kang-soo, the director and assistant minister of 

KOCIS to listen to what KOCIS is specially doing and what kind of strategy they 

have as a PR organization for Korea. 

Seo Kang-soo, the director and assistant minister 

of KOCIS 

Q : What are the major projects of the 

Korean Culture and Information Service 

(KOCIS) this year? 

A : The Korean Culture and Information 

Service (KOCIS), part of the Ministry of 

Culture, Sports and Tourism, is responsible 

for overseas promotion of Korean culture, 

international cultural exchanges and 

cooperation and national image enhancement. 

Specifically speaking, KOCIS is engaged 

in planning overseas Korean culture 

promotions, building and running Korean 

Cultural Centers in other nations, holding 

Korean culture festivals, launching various 

culture promotion programs, reinforcing 

cultural exchanges and cultural cooperation, 

making and distributing promotional 

videos aimed at enhancing the image of 

Korea, making and distributing all sorts of 


publications, running Korea's No.1 overseas 

promotion portal "korea.net," inviting 

foreign journalists and providing support to 

foreign correspondents. 

This year, KOCIS has embarked on a variety 

of promotional activities by capitalizing 

on global sporting festivals like the 2010 

Winter Olympics and the 2010 World Cup in 

South Africa, the 60th anniversary of the 

Korean War and the G20 Seoul Summit. 

For a start, taking advantage of the fever 

during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, 

KOCIS hosted Korean Culture Festivals 

from May 17 to June 5 in five regions in four 

nations -South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and 

Turkey. In particular, in celebration of the 

30th anniversary of Korea-Nigeria diplomatic 

ties, the Korean Cultural Center officially 

opened on May 24, which is the first 

on the African Continent and will play a pivotal 

role in introducing Korean culture to 

the region. 

In addition, this year, the project of inviting 

foreign journalists -- which has mainly revolved 

around individual invitations and 

provision of simple support for news gathering 

-- is morphing into "Bethel 

Fellowship Program" that pushes for 

themed group invitations, discussions and 

field reports. 

KOCIS successfully accomplished a project 

to invite ASEAN journalists in May this year. 

And, in June, journalists living in the nations 

who fought in the Korean War were 

invited in celebration of the 60th anniversary 

of the Korean War. KOCIS plans to invite 

journalists from African nations at the 

end of July, where Korea is an unknown, 

faraway nation and from the Middle East 

where there is growing interest in Korea. 

What's more, on the occasion of the G20 

Summit in Seoul, KOCIS will invite foreign 

journalists and journalists of Korean descent 

to publicize Korea's rapid economic 

growth and democratic development to the 

rest of the world. 

KOCIS has made and distributed overseas 

promotional videos and commercials in a 

bid to enhance the image of Korea. This 

time, we are working on crafting a concept 

in which Korea emerged from the ruins of 

the Korean War to become an international

Cover Story 

Korean Film Festival in LA 

contributor with rapid economic growth 

and democratization under its belt. We try 

to project Korea as a good neighbor who 

takes initiative among the G20 member nations, 

tackles the global financial crisis and 

plays a bridging role between the developed 

and developing worlds. Besides, KO- 

CIS has been implementing a program 

called "Your Suggestions on Overseas 

Promotion," to draw participation from the 

public. On the grounds that nearly 12 million 

Koreans go abroad on holiday, each 

Korean is a cultural ambassador. When 

Korean travelers find errors in museum 

data on Korea or they feel much more 

needs to be done, they can visit www.kocis.go.kr 

and post their suggestions in Your 

Suggestions on Overseas Promotion in anticipation 

of actual rectification. In other 

words, KOCIS is always open to new ideas 

and suggestions on overseas promotion so 

as to get the public on board. 

Q : What are the roles and visions of 

Korean Cultural Centers and Korea 

Centers? 

A : KOCIS has put up Korean Cultural 

Centers in strategic locations on a continental 

and country-by-country basis in order 

to introduce Korean culture, enhance 

the image of Korea through cultural exchanges 

in culture-related areas like cultural 

arts, cultural industries, tourism and 

sports and enable efficient overseas promotion. 

As of now, 16 Korean Cultural 

Centers are operating in 12 nations, of 

which Korea Centers are being run in 

Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai and Los Angeles. 

Korean Cultural Centers hosts an array of 

events such as exhibitions, performances, 

movie screenings, Korean language classes, 

cultural lectures and symposiums in 

order to publicize the excellence of Korean 

culture and revitalize cultural exchanges. 

KOCIS plans to put up 37 more Korean 

Cultural Centers -- especially in Southeast 

Asia, Central and South America, the 

Middle East and Africa where cultural exchanges 

are relatively small in volume -- 

and to push for cultural ODA (Official 

Development Assistance) and provision of 

support for market entry by private entities 

in order to improve Korea's image and use 

Korean Cultural Centers as a control tower 

for efficient overseas promotion. 

Q : What is your PR strategy in response 

to new trends like the spread of smartphones 

and the explosion of social media 

like Twitter and blogs? 

A : KOCIS is well positioned to put the expansion 

of social media and smartphones 

to practical use. Compared to previous PR 

channels, this new form of media is a lowcost, 

high-efficiency marketing tool that 

targets the entire world. Thus, the new 

media is highly applicable when it comes to 

national PR activity. KOCIS has already taken 

a multi-faceted approach to the new 

media. 

At the moment, we have been running seven 

social media promotional platforms on 

Twitter, Facebook and blogs, etc. And we 

are working on developing a smartphone 

application which is scheduled to be available 

in the near future. In addition, we will 

proactively respond to a rapidly changing 

PR environment by diversifying contents 


Cover Story 

distribution channels -for example, provision 

of more e-publications. We will continue 

to cash in on the merits of social media, 

which is strong in communications, in 

making our PR efforts. And various promotional 

contents will be developed in consideration 

of the characteristics of each platform. 

In short, we will utilize the new media 

as the most optimized PR channel. 

Q : What is KOCIS's strategy for enhancing 

the image of Korea via overseas media 

coverage? 

A : The mass media works as one of the 

strongest tools for setting and fine-tuning a 

nation's image because general people 

come into contact with the media on a daily 

basis. Therefore, how Korea is perceived in 

the eyes of foreigners is mainly determined 

by overseas media coverage of Korea. With 

Korea's international status growing in importance 

in the world, the foreign media 

has started to pay due attention to Korean 

culture while still focusing on the Korean 

economy and the inter-Korean relations. 

To cast the image of Korea in a positive 

light, KOCIS has created varied channels 

with foreign news organizations and been 

strengthening networks with them. First of 

all, we are making efforts to provide foreign 

journalists translated versions of 

press releases in a swift, accurate manner 

in order to help them report based on accurate, 

ample data. Korea has also offered 

support for foreign journalists gathering 

new materials, and developing various 

newsworthy areas that can pique interest. 

Furthermore, we invite journalists from 

developed nations, Asia and Africa and provide 

customized support for news gathering 

in line with their specific areas of interest. 

Q : Could you elaborate on the activities 

of KOCIS Cultural Delegations, as well 

as their PR achievements? 

A : KOCIS Cultural Delegations are made 

up of private envoys -namely, college students 

- who go abroad to take on volunteer 

work with the added duty of promoting 

Korean culture abroad. This KOCIS 

Special Korean Cultural Performance held for U.S.F.K 

KOCIS shows Korean traditional dancing performance 

Cultural Delegation program, which dates 

back to 2006, is designed to introduce 

Korean culture to foreigners and embellish 

the image of Korea. Though the number of 

participating college students fluctuates in 

winter and summer seasons, about 700 to 

1,500 volunteers are grouped into 40 to 60 

teams to go on cultural mission trips. 

This summer's KOCIS Cultural Delegation 

consists of nearly 200 cultural ambassadors 

who have taken compulsory classes 

titled "Desirable Roles of Cultural 

Delegations" and "The Essence of Korean 

Culture through Comparing Korean 

Culture with those of China and Japan. In 

addition, elective classes such as "Samul 

nori (a genre of traditional percussion music 

originating in Korea)" and "Hanji 

(Korean paper) Craftwork" are also offered 

to both entertain and educate foreigners 

about Korean culture. By offering various 

kinds of promotional gifts, participating 

college students are scheduled to spend 

their summer holidays promoting Korean 

culture in 22 nations in South East Asia and 

Africa. 

Chun Go-eun/clairbear@koreaittimes.com 


Business 

LG Chem Has New electronic vehicle 

battery factory in Holland City 

On July 16, LG Chem held a groundbreaking ceremony of a 

new electronic vehicle battery factory of Compact Power Inc., a 

subsidiary of LG Chem, in Holland, Michigan. 

LG Chem executives, local and state officials including 

Jennifer Granholm, the Governor of Michigan and Kurt Dykstra 

and the Mayor of Holland were present for the ceremony. Gladly 

and surprisingly, Barack Obama, President of the United States of 

America also attended. And as he entered, about 400 visitors 

gave a shout of joy. When, he greeted Koo Bon-Moo,Chairman 

of LG Chem in Korean, "Annyeong haseyo ('Hello' in Korean)." 

His visit was for the foreign company's groundbreaking event and 

is exceptional and the visit is considered a part of administration 

efforts highlighting clean energy initiatives aimed at bringing 

USD 1 million in support for hybrid vehicles for the next 5 years. 

Sure enough, President Obama started the speech by saying "I'm 

very grateful for the presence of the chairman of LG Group, Bon- 

Moo Koo. Thank you very much for your presence here today, as 

well as the CEO and vice chairman, Peter Bahn-Suk Kim," and 

introduced his administration's goals and emphasized that the 

factory will take the lead in the US economy and high tech industry 

with its clean energy technology at the speaking. In addition, 

he expressed a high expectation that the factory will allow 

American citizens to use American vehicles implanted with the 

electric car batteries, American made. The Holland plant has received 

a USD 151 million Department of Energy grant to help 

build the USD 303 million factory to produce lithium-ion battery 

cells for cars. Most of the actual investment amount was covered 

by the American Government's generous incentives, USD 280 

million. The first commercial production of the factory will be in 

March 2012. And It plans to furnish battery production to a scale 

of 60,000 to supply electric cars by 2013 when the construction 

will be completed. 

All the while, LG Chem has been working on electric vehicle 

batteries very hard. In 1999, LG Chem succeeded in creating 

small lithium-ion batteries, which was the 15 years behind, compared 

to Japan. However, since LG Chem already acknowledged 

the great potential of the battery field, in 2000, they built the 

Compact Power Incorporate and conducted R&D in full production 

for pioneering the American market. After 2 and half years, 

Barak Obama (left),President of the United States of America, shares a handshake 

with Koo Bon-Moo (center), Chairman of LG Group. Right is Kim Bahn- 

Suk, Vice President of LG Chem 

At the groundbreaking ceremony of the Holland plant 

the battery business of LG Chem has started to yield results. 

For example, in 2004, LG Chem received orders amounting to 

USD 4.6 million from among three main consortiums of U.S auto 

makers such as, USABC (US Advanced Battery Consortium) 

DOE (Department of Energy). As the only chemical-based battery 

company around the world, they have gained technical 

recognition from the world. 



Event Preview 


The 10th IMID 2010 will show next-generation convergence technologies including 3D displays, 

broadcasting & communications, LED, PDP, OLED, flexible displays and e-paper 

The three events --the 10th IMID 2010, the IDMC (International Display Manufacturing Conference) and the ASIA DISPLAY-- 

are scheduled to be held altogether on October 11th through 15th at KINTEX (Korea International Exhibition Center), Korea. 

Presentations will revolve around ever-evolving products like LED, PDP and OLED products and premium markets' favorites -- 

such as flexible displays electronic paper and 3D displays. Development of next-generation technologies -- especially, OLED 

(Organic Light-Emitting Diode Displays), electronic paper and 3D displays - has been pursued by the R&D sector, so a larger number 

of papers on the three will be presented. 

In the first installment of a series of reports about IMID 2010, Korea IT Times interviewed the Chairman of the Korea 

Information Display Society (KIDS) to learn about the record of R&D activities in the display industry and the industry's roadmap 

for developing future technologies. 

Q) At the 10th IMID 2010, what will be introduced 

and how the event is being 

prepared? 

A) Lee Sin-Doo (sidlee@plaza.snu.ac.kr), 

Executive Committee Chair of IMID/IDMC/ 

ASIA DISPLAY 2010 and Professor of Seoul 

National University, answered, "The 10th 

IMID 2010 will introduce research on nextgeneration 

technologies such as 3D displays, 

convergence of broadcasting & 

communications technologies, LED, PDP, 

OLED products, flexible displays and electronic 

paper. 

First of all, let's take a look at the previous 

keynote speeches. By simply running down 

the titles of the previous keynote speeches, 

we can have a good understanding of how 

the Korean display industry has advanced 

so far. Paik Woo Hyun, LG Electronics' 

chief technology officer, delivered a 

keynote speech titled "Information Display 

Devices"in 2001, followed by chief of 

Samsung Electronics LCD division Lee 

Sang Wan's "The Evolution and Outlook of 

FPD Industry" in 2002. Then CEO of the LG 

Philips LCD Division Park Ki Sun's " The 

Era of TFT-LCD"in 2003, CEO of Samsung 

SDI Kim Sun-Taek "The New Race for the 

Ultimate Display" in 2006, LG Display CEO 

Kwon Young Soo's "Challenges for the 


Future LCD Display" in 2008 and CEO of the 

Samsung Electronics LCD Division Jang 

Won-Kie's "FPD Industry, Challenge for 

Value Creation" in 2009. 

This year's lineup includes " 3DTV, the 3rd 

Revolution" by the CEO of Samsung 

Electronics Yoon Boo-Keun, " The Role and 

Function of Displays in the Future Broadcasting 

& Communications Convergence 

industry" by Hyung Taegun, a permanent 

member of the Korea Communications 

Commission (KCC) and " Next-generation 

and Ultimate 3D Display" by Tokyo University 

Professor Yasuhiro Takaki. 

The IMID 2010 will be prepared by the following 

three committees -- the Organizing 

Committee, the Program Committee and 

the Execution Committee. Hanyang 

University Professor Kwon Oh-kyong and 

Seoul National University Professor 

Whang Ki-Woong jointly assume the post 

of Chairman of the Organizing Committee. 

And the Execution Committee is led by 

Seoul National University Professor Lee 

Sin-Doo leads and the Program Committee 

by Busan National University Yoon Tae- 

Hoon. 

The 10th IMID 2010's theme is how to entrench 

Korea's No. 1 position in the global 

display market. Korea has emerged as a 

global display powerhouse with the transition 

from LCD notebook screens to desktop 

computer monitors and to flat-screen, 

wall-mounted TVs and OLED. However, in 

terms of 3D LED TV and smartphones, 

China, Taiwan and Japan have achieved a 

quantum leap, trailing closely behind 

Korea. 

Korea's dependence on raw material imports 

is over 80 percent, so intensive and 

long-term R&D on original technologies 

should be pursued to secure the top spot. 

Q) We've heard that the IMID 2010's 

award ceremony is sponsored by Samsung 

Electronics and LG Display. 

A) Yes, that' correct. First of all, the IMID 

2010's LG Display Award is hosted by LG 

Display to award R&D talent in the display 

sector. The LG Display sponsored Display 

Award consists of three awards, tentatively 

named the LG Display Young Scholar 

Award, LG Display Upcoming Researcher 

Award and LG Display Woman Researcher 

Award. 

Samsung Electronics also mentioned that 

long-term, intensive efforts should be 

made to obtain original technologies and 

nurture talent and promise to lend a helping 

to fostering talent in private companies.

Event Preview 

Organizing Committee Chair Kwon Oh-Kyong (First from right), Executive Committee Chair Lee Sin-Doo (Second from right), Program Committee Chair Yoon 

Tae-Hoon (Third from right) and Executive Committee General Affair Kim Hyun Jae (Second from left) introduce the preparation of IMID 2010 to Monica Chung, 

Chief Editor of Korea IT Times (First from left) 

Although detailed plans have yet to be unveiled, 

the discovery of up and coming researchers 

in the display sector will be the 

goal of newly created awards, which will be 

different from the previous MKE (the 

Ministry of Knowledge and Economy)- 

sponsored awards for product development 

and the Merck Award. Starting from 

this year, the two companies-- Samsung 

Electronics and LG Display- will continue to 

sponsor the IMID Award Ceremony. 

Q) Judging from the number of papers 

released, where do you think Korea 

stands at the moment? 

A) The number of papers released has decreased 

in the past three years in Korea. 

This is because Korea is ahead of others 

nations in the pure technology sector or 

because of the PDP industry's downward 

trend. Noteworthy is the number of US papers 

have halved. This means the number 

of R&D institutes is not big enough to serve 

the vast US market, and Korea is a step 

ahead in the field of source technology. 

However, at the same time, the strong performance 

of China, Taiwan and Japan 

should be held in check. Growth in the 

number of papers in these nations indicates 

that they are formidable rivals in the 

making in the global display industry. 

Q) Could you tell us about recent trends 

in the global display industry? 

A) 3D touch pads and OLED are undeniably 

the hottest issues. In particular, the most 

attention is paid when OLED would make 

its market debut as a home appliance, but 

no set date has been made. Still, OLED has 

been losing the battle against LED in terms 

of resolution. That's why while the Galaxy S 

uses OLED, the iPhone comes with LCD 

called IPS mode produced by LG Display. In 

addition, it will take some time before 

OLED is applied to TV screens. Another 

trend is PDP, its market share has been 

decreasing, but this year thanks to the 

booming 3D industry, PDP came back. 

Q) We've also heard that excellent papers 

presented in the previous IMID will 

be introduced this year. 

A) Yes, that's right. We and publisher Tailor 

& Francis will jointly publish good IMID papers 

so as to introduce them to foreign 

scholars. Of course, the IMID holds the 

copyright for the book. The collection of 

those papers will serve as a great R&D reference 

because it will compile numerous 

papers-- ranging from LG Display's 

Information Display Devices to TFT-LCD, 

Flexible Display and LED and further to the 

IMID 2010's 3D TV and 3D Display. 

Q) What can be the next-generation cutting-edge 

technologies that would take 

over 3D displays. 

A) Kwon Oh-Kyong (okwon@hanyang.ac.kr), 

Organizing Committee Chair of IMID/IDMC/ 

ASIA Display 2010 and Distinguished 

Professor of Hanyang University): As a 

matter of fact, no products have been produced 

that are more advanced than 3D displays. 

In other words, a unified R&D roadmap 

has yet to be thrashed out. Specifically 

speaking, in terms of panels, PDP is more 

suitable for 3D displays than LCD. And 

OLED's optimization for 3D displays is being 

utilized to achieve market commercialization. 

Overall, how the three display 

would evolve piques our interest. 

On top of that, more research will be conducted 

in areas related to human interfaces. 

Mobile phones' touch screens, video 

game motion sensors and remote controls 

are also used in other fields to achieve industrial 

convergence. 

Microsoft is working on Surface Display 

technology that turns any white wall into a 

display, while Google and Apple are also 


Event Preview 

Kwon Oh-Kyong, Organizing Committee Chair of IMID 2010 and Distinguished 

Professor of Hanyang University 

Lee Sin-Doo, Executive Committee Chair of IMID 2010 and Professor of Seoul 

National University 


developing similar technologies and necklace-like 

mobile phones. What's more, the 

HMD (Head Mounted Display) technology 

that used to be used for military purposes 

is being introduced to the public through 

games. As a result, R&D activity is underway 

to develop next-generation, state-ofthe-art 

technologies in various sectors in 

line with industrial demands for new concepts 

that go beyond market staples like 

mobile phone, laptops, PCs and TV. Thus, 

people are expecting that a new form of 

markets like public displays will emerge. 

A) Lee Sin-Doo: From a different perspective, 

we need to think about what kinds of 

products will come to our society in what 

way. In other words, there are two ways, 

one is upgrading existing products and the 

other is developing completely new products. 

The market for upgrading existing 

products has continued to see technological 

developments, but in terms of market 

demand, the market has been oversaturated. 

Take flexible displays for example. 

Although they are emerging as an alternative 

to the creation of new markets, unless 

a new market for flexible displays is created, 

the need for flexible displays will remain 

lackluster in the current display market 

that is armed with most of the elements 

users need. 

3D glasses, for instance, have evolved 

greatly, and are divided into active glasses 

and passive ones. As of now, active glasses 

are mainly developed on the grounds that 

they are less fatigue-inducing. However, 

long hours of wearing active glasses do result 

in fatigue. Therefore, technological development 

will be pursued towards goggleless 

3D. Here comes a completely new 

technological development. This is because 

3D without glasses should be preceded 

by 3D controls in hardware and 3D 

production of fundamental contents. In 

conclusion, to create new markets rather 

than simply maintaining existing markets, 

both academia and industry should make 

efforts. I believe that creation of new markets 

is our responsibility for the survival of 

future technologies. 

Q) China and Taiwan are chasing closely 

after Korea. What kind of strategy 

should Korea have to follow through 

with to secure its No.1 position in the 

global display market? 

A) Kwon Oh-Kyong: The display industry, a 

parts industry, is heavily influenced by upstream 

and downstream industries. Thus, 

building networks with its upstream and 

downstream industries is all-important. In 

short, in the case of LCD panels, both 

growth of downstream industries (such as 

LCD TV, monitors, laptop computers and 

multi-media products) and upstream industries' 

speedy supply of parts like glass 

substrates, color filters and backlight units 

have a significant bearing on the competitiveness 

of LCD panels. In addition, although 

downstream industries have succeeded 

in localization of parts and material 

they use, we still imports most of our raw 

material needs from abroad. 

Therefore, first of all, Korea has to push 

ahead with large-scale LCD panel production 

in China and swiftly respond to rivaling 

companies' move to invest in large panels 

in China. Second, at the moment, LCD panels 

are being commoditized, so continued 

efforts for technological innovations should 

be made in line with industrial trends in 

technological advances. In other words, 

mid- and long-term, preemptive investment 

in R&D for next-generation products 

should be made. 

Third, compared to other high-tech industries, 

the display industry requires a wide

Event Preview 

range of parts and raw materials. Thus, the 

localization of key parts and materials and 

obtaining original technologies are more 

important than anything else. To that end, 

upstream and downstream industries 

should be seamlessly interlinked in an efficient 

manner. In the Korean display industry, 

Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics 

have stratified global set makers as 

their affiliates who produce home appliances. 

Therefore, Korea has advantages in 

terms of industrial connectivity compared 

with China and Taiwan. Yet China as a 

communist nation boasts the strongest 

centralization and the largest market. Also, 

China and Taiwan are interconnected economically, 

as evidenced by the term 

"Chiwan (China + Taiwan)". Against this 

backdrop, looking 10 years down the road, 

the Korean government should support 

R&D on original technologies and private 

companies should continue to focus on obtaining 

original technologies. 

Q) The Korean government announced 

that localization of raw materials has 

made headway. What is academia's 

take on this? 

A) Lee Sin-Doo: When the Korean government 

measured the extent of localization, it 

counted how many Korean products were 

used on industrial sites. However, this simple 

way of measuring the degree of localization 

is wrong, because the core technologies 

for raw materials are not developed 

by Korean companies. We just purchase 

technologies through MoUs and 

technological transfer deals and simply assemble 

downstream materials. In short, 

Koreas' accumulation of core technologies 

is very disappointing contrary to the government's 

announcement. 

Looking 10 years down the road, academia 

and industry try to push for many R&D projects 

in order to develop core technologies. 

However, the Korean government's support 

for such endeavors leaves much to be 

desired. For example, the Ministry of 

Science and Technology was dissolved to 

create the Ministry of Education, Science 

and Technology, which made government 

IMID 2010 will be held on Oct. 11 to 15 at KINTEX, Korea 

R&D support ambiguous. The Ministry of 

Education, Science and Technology shows 

more interest in new industries than in the 

display industry. In addition, the Ministry of 

Knowledge and Economy (MKE) is more 

interested in technological commercialization 

than the development of original technologies. 

Samsung Electronics' AMOLED has taken 

up as much as 98 percent of the global 

market. Localization of AMOLED is underway 

in the right direction. Besides, LG 

Display is also keen on moving the MOLED 

business forward. The Korean government 

should take advantage of the two global 

leaders' synergetic effects and launch national 

projects that encourage other parts, 

equipment and materials suppliers to secure 

original technologies. 



Event Preview 

Exhibition Prime Time – 

Web 2.0 Korea Electronics Show 

KES - Makeover 

The value of a buyer at an exhibition is 

similar to that of the export value of two 

mid-sized cars. The costs a buyer incurs as 

hotel fees, service fees and transportation 

fees are approximate in value to that of an 

export. The government of cities such as 

Las Vegas, Berlin and Barcelona provide 

free public transportation and adjust concert 

dates of orchestras during exhibitions 

in hopes of creating a close relationship 

with the buyers. 

The Korea Electronics Show, which 

boasts a 40 year history, had a major makeover 

last year. With the implementation of 

the internet and entering of large department 

stores, the Korea Electronics Show 

(www.gokea.org) went through troublesome 

times, trying to figure out its place in 

the market place alongside other companies 

and exhibitions. Last year, the Korea 

Electronics Show implemented a value 

chain centered approach and has so far received 

much of the spotlight from clients 

and buyers from both in and out of the 

country who are waiting for chance to participate. 

Web 2.0 and 

the Korea Electronics Show 

The recent iPhone trend can be explained 

as the result of a social phenomena. 

The iPhone has started a new, large 

scale "long tail" ecosystem that selects its 

target by solving the social problems between 

people. An exhibition is a marketplace 

that represents numerous interests. 

The marketplace must not only be able to 

provide goods at minimal costs but also be 

able to provide current trends and insights 

about future investments to research developers 

and CEOs. In addition, an exhibition 

must also provide future directions 

and goals of businesses to policy developers. 

Last year, the Korea Electronics Show 

had a makeover from a vertical concept of 

a "Trade Show" to a horizontal concept of 

a "Value Chain" which exhibits research 

and development, design, production and 

circulation. Instead of focusing on the 

product itself, the exhibition concentrates 

on design, research and development, content 

and circulation by dividing up the exhibition 

halls by different themes. In addition, 

by introducing next generation computing, 

digital broadcasting and 3D technology 

the Korea Electronics Show has 

seen great success. 

Creation of Large Ecosystems 

Last year, the Korea Electronics Show 

hosted an exhibition under the slogan of 

"The future of Korea has always started 

with Korea Electronics Show (KES)." The 

exhibition introduced themes of 3D expo 

and Green Tech and thus opened new 

horizons. The 3D movie Avatar became a 

great hit that can be matched by the smartphone. 

The Korea Electronics Show had 

already introduced this technology a year 

ago at its exhibition as Skylife broadcasted 


Event Preview 

3D for the first time ever. In addition, small businesses like, 'Red 

Rover' took part in the production of 'Avatar' and other English 

animation broadcasting channels and eventually turned out to become 

a worldwide star company in the field of 3D. Moreover, 

with the introduction of the 'Green PC Cafe' and cloud computing 

at the Green Tech exhibition and 2013 digital broadcasting at 

the digital broadcasting exhibition, Korean businesses have made 

a successful debut to the field of broadcasting systems and equipment 

businesses that has long been dominated by Japan. 

Local Marketplace 

An exhibition offers more value than there is to be seen. 

Exhibitions provide an opportunity for participants to make contact 

with the local atmosphere and its national brand. In the case 

of Korea, Samsung rose to first and second place in terms of E- 

business last year. These companies have an intangible asset, "IT 

Korea," and thus raise the importance of local exhibitions. Since 

last year, the Korea Electronics Show has invested funds into 

overseas road shows and to attract agents. 

It is a near impossible task for local small businesses to meet 

purchasing managers from multinational corporations like 'Haier' 

and 'Philips.' Even if they do meet these purchasing managers, 

they would have to deal with business trips, interpretations and 

hosting. There is much to be incurred. Starting from last year, the 

Korea Electronics Show has invested more than half of its funds 

to invite buyers from large companies. In addition, the Korea 

Electronics Show also deals in trade consultation at the spot. 

We must not send our companies overseas anymore. Our companies 

have the knowledge and technological depth to do business 

in Korea. The time has come when our businesses can meet 

global manufacturing companies like Matsushita, Philips, Haier 

in Korea along with the global distributors like HUAQIANGBEI 

of China and Wal-Mart. 

This year, the Korea Electronics Show will strengthen its marketplace 

function and the 'Show in Show' concept so that not only 

participants and buyers but also many of those interested can 

solve their differences and build a new ecosystem together. 


Yoon Yo-tam / yoon@koreaittimes.com 


Event Preview 

ITC2010 

ITC Fair 2010 to be held 

at Songdo Convensia, Incheon in November 


Event Preview 

The ITC Fair 2010, an international exhibition 

specialized in B2B in the IT and 

convergence fields, will be held at Songdo 

Convensia, a convention center in 

Incheon, from Nov. 3 this year for a threeday 

run. 

More than 200 Korean and foreign 

companies are expected to participate in 

the international event under the slogan, 

"Experiencing Tomorrow Today, 2010." 

The Incheon IT Promotion Agency 

(IITPA) will manage the ITC Fair 2010, 

the 9th of its kind, under the joint auspices 

of the Mini-stry of Knowledge Economy 

and Incheon Metropolitan City. 

As the ITC Fair 2010 was selected as 

the most promising exhibition by the 

Ministry of Knowledge Economy, the 

government will extend various supports 

for the international event, especially in 

the overseas marketing sector, including 

an export consultation meeting for global 

buyers, an IITPA spokesman said. 

About 120 buyers form 15 countries are 

invited to attend the export consultation 

meeting and engage in in-depth export 

consultations with Korean IT and convergence 

companies, he said. 

India Day 

"In particular, the IITPA will operate 

'India Day' on Nov. 5, the last day of the 

global event, where buyers from India are 

to meet with Korean counterparts operating 

small and medium-sized venture companies. 

Through the event, Korean makers 

are expected to explore new global 

markets and secure new export sources 

with minimum costs," said the spokesman. 

The IITPA also plans to attract some 

500 Korean buyers in the IT and convergence 

fields to the event to help them promote 

domestic and foreign marketing effects 

and expand exchanges between industries. 

"To maximize synergy effects, we also 

plan to hold a large-scale international 

conference under the topic of the 'Prospect 

for the 2011 global IT market and strategy 

for overseas advancement, IT hot trends & 

new biz opportunity' by inviting world famous 

experts in the relevant sectors," he 

stated. Besides, the IITPA will operate a 

variety of special halls, including a u- 

Game PR Hall, where visitors can see the 

2014 Asian Games in advance by using 

state-of-the-art IT technology, Robot Land 

PR Hall, the first robot theme park in the 

world; u-City PR Hall, Digital Cable TV 

PR Hall and an IPTV Experience Hall, 

the spokesman explained. 

Other events 

The agency is also planning to operate 

an auction house for IT goods and other 

special products produced in Incheon, 

hold the MBC Game StarCraft Competition 

and other special performances during 

the event period. 

"We are making all-out efforts to maximize 

marketing effects of small and medium-sized 

companies in the IT and convergence 

sectors and help them increase their 

exports through ITC Fair 2010," he said. 

Those who hope to participate in the international 

event are required to make online 

application through the ITC Fair 2010 

homepage (www.itc.or.kr). Those who 

finish the application by Aug. 20 can get a 

40 percent discount in the participation fee 

of KRW 330,000. Those who attend the 

global event for the second consecutive 

year and get recommendation by any of 

18 IT promotion agencies in the country 

also can get the discount service. Meanwhile, 

Incheon-based companies are able 

to enjoy more favors. For instance, in the 

case of inviting foreign buyers, they can receive 

free lodging services, he added. 



Event Preview 

The 4th Asia Ministerial Conference 

on Disaster Risk Reduction Will be Held 

in Korea 

The UN, The City of Incheon and NGOs Will Co-Host This Conference 

Starting from October 25-28, 2010, the 

4th UN Asian Ministerial Conference on 

Disaster Risk Reduction (AMCDRR) will 

be held in Songdo Convensia in Incheon, 

Korea. The conference will be co-hosted 

by the UN, the city of Incheon and nongovernmental 

organizations (NGOs). The 

opening ceremony will begin on October 

26, 2010, at 10:00 A.M. This will mark the 

4th time for this event. The 1st ever event 

was held in China in 2005, while the 2nd 

event was held in India in 2007 and in 

Malaysia in 2008. 

The theme of this conference is to discuss 

topics related to "Disaster Risk Reduction 

for Climate Change Adaptation." 

It will focus particularly on the convergence 

of disaster risk reduction, climate 

change adaptation and available IT and 

green technology. Other topics of discussion 

include raising awareness and building 

capacity for disaster risk reduction. 

Through this conference, they want to develop 

and share information, technology, 

sound practices and lessons learned in climate 

& disaster risk management amongst 

all the participants. Lastly, they want to 

promote the integration of disaster risk reduction 

and climate change adaptation for 

the development of green growth. 

Currently, the AMCDRR committee is 

preparing this conference by developing a 

cooperative system which includes information 

from government sectors, universities 

and organizations. Through these efforts, 

they want to emphasize the severity 

of the dangers involving natural disasters 


due to climate change as well as pursuing 

a safer environment in the Asia-Pacific region. 

There will be participants from all over 

the world. Some participants include ministerial 

officials from 62 Asian & Pacific 

Nations, UN organizations and non-governmental 

organizations (NGO). Participants 

include representatives from Japan, 

China, India, Malaysia, UAE, Maldives, 

the United States and Australia. The conference 

is expecting approximately 800 

people to participate in this conference. 

Participants hope that certain objectives 

will be achieved through this conference. 

First, they want to review the action taken 

by the national governments and other 

stakeholders for the implementation of 

HFA as a follow up to the Beijing Action 

for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia, the 

Delhi Declaration and the Kuala Lumpur 

Declaration. Next, they want to establish a 

practical and problem-solving system that 

can prevent extreme disasters that are 

caused due to climate change. They also 

want to implement technical and tangible 

solutions using the available cutting-edge 

technologies and create policies that ultimately 

prevent and reduce disaster risks 

throughout the region. Lastly, they will 

talk about finding out efficient methods to 

share climate information as well as technical 

developments in the field of disaster 

management. 

This conference will provide a forum for 

participants to discuss natural disasters 

and climate change as well as share information 

and propose solutions. In the Asia- 

Pacific region, there is a risk of certain natural 

disasters as well as disasters caused by 

climate change. Hopefully, through this 

conference, there are resolutions and solutions 

to make the public more aware of 

these situations and to possibly prevent 

these disasters from occuring. 

Daniel Ko/ danielko@koreaittimes.com

Events 

The Korea Real 3D Content Production 

Association Has a Kick-Off Ceremony 

With the start of July, The Korea Real 

3D Content Production Association started 

its move officially. The Korea Real 3D 

Content Production Association had a 

Kick-Off Ceremony today. For today's 

event, more than 200 guests from corporate 

relations and 3D related institutions 

were present for the ceremony. Also Yu 

In-chon, the Minister of Culture, Sports 

and Tourism, Yang Seung-taik, invited Researchers 

from ETRI and Kwak Kyungtaek, 

movie director, attended the ceremony. 

Kim Tae-sub, First Chairman of the 

Korea Real 3D Content Production Association 

and Chairman of KDC Group 

greeted every guest and started by saying 

Kim Tae-sub, Chairman of the Korea Real 3D 

Content Production Association 

"the 3D revolution is blowing around the 

world and the revolution just speeds up 

ranging from the home theaters, mobile to 

all types of displays." And he continued 

"For the development of the nation's 3D 

content industry, we will establish a variety 

of infrastructure elements for 3D content 

and will strengthen research and development 

through voluntary cooperation 

and participation." 

Soon, Yu In-chon, Minister of Culture, 

Sports and Tourism, gave a speech. He 

said "Now the 3D content industry will be 

a next-generation growth engine for the 

national economy and culture. As the government 

invests KRW 800 billion in the 

3D industry in the next five years, I hope 

Yu In-chon, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism 

this launch will act as a cornerstone for the 

3D industry development in Korea." 

Followed by, the director of famous 

Korean movie, Friend, Kwak Kyung-taek 

stood at the stage. Kwack stressed that to 

survive, acceptance of new technology is 

important and 3D content is the only answer 

for the future of movie industry. 

The Korea Real 3D Content Production 

Association was established on May 

27 for the purpose of the 3D content industry 

activation, market promotion with 

member companies and for supporting 3D 

industry infrastructure. As the first and 

largest association of 3D content in Korea, 

currently, over 50 members companies 

and research institutions, academia and related 

industries are involved. 

This association will strive for market 

research, display standardization, creation 

of content and research and development 

for 3D. In addition, other various businesses 

such as education, symposia, exhibitions 

and competitions will be promoted. 


Kim Tae-sub(left) and Yu In-chon(right) enjoy movies with 

3D 

The Korea Real 3D Contents Production Association’s Kick Off Ceremony 


Events 

Lee Sangchul, CEO of LG U + announced their visions at the Proclaim Vision Ceremony 

LG U + Takes Flight 

A scene from LG U + TV commercial 

Do you think a penguin can fly? Surprisingly they can. A few 

years ago, the BBC screened remarkable footage of penguins flying. 

And you can check out the scene from the TV commercial 

for LG U + (www.lguplus.com), the new name for the former LG 

Telecom. 

This newest commercial of LG shows how much LG U + are 

desiring and striving for success. They indirectly revealed their 

goal to be a leading company in the Tele-communication industry. 

How so? In the ads, LG indentified themselves as a penguin 

and they made it what people would not expect, flying. Now LG 

U + is trying to step out just like the flying penguin. Also, if you 

look at the commercial closely, you can find two other penguins 

(might be competitors) on the ground just looking at the flying 

penguin while one is up in the air. On July 1, LG U + officially announced 

their desire to fly high. At the Vision Proclaiming 

Ceremony in Seoul, Lee Sangchul, CEO of LG U + stated that 

they are going to offer a new concept of value for customers by 

plus 'You' and minus 'Telecom'. Also LG U + is willing to take the 

lead to revoke the title of IT powerhouse for Korea with U 

Convergence service. Is it too ambitious? Remember they are the 

flying penguin. Unexpected things are happening. 

U Convergence Service 

With the launch of innovative customer services, U Convergence, 

they plan to lead world business. The U convergence service, 

as the customer convergence service, connects a variety of 


Events 

Lee Sang-chul, CEO of LG U + (left), at the press Conference 

Proclaim Vision Ceremony 

devices naturally regardless of location or units. With this service, 

LG U + intends to be the number one company in the new field of 

business where nobody has been yet. 

In order to make it work, they will structure ACN (AP Centric 

Network) and LTE (Long Term Evolution) which is considered 

as next-generation mobile communications. Also they will build 

cross-platform and Cloud infrastructure. Cross-platform is able to 

service content inexpensive and conveniently. 

In addition LG U + is going to precede 'Digital Free' to expand 

customer's value through supplying U convergence services consisting 

of Converged Home, Social Mobility and Smart Workplaces. 

And with open innovation with various partners, they will 

ensure excellent service and technology in the form of investment 

and alliances. 

Largest CAN range in the World 

The first project for 'Digital Free,' LG U + brought out the 'All 

nations Yo' plan.' Customers can select cell phones, internet, internet 

telephony, IPTV, anything they want without any conditions, 

a household is charged as much as they spend and can reduce 

communication expenses up to 50 percent when they use 

more than the amount limit. 

Along with, for the sake of the second project, LG builds ACN 

and LTE to provide high speed of 100mbps both in wired and 

wireless. 'ACN (AP Centric Network),' the intelligent WiFi 

Network only LG U + possesses, will be made full use of as a core 

infrastructure. 

ACN is not like other service infrastructures which are limited 

in only hotspots. ACN will be built by Nomadic Network and 

broaden its infrastructure to homes and business buildings and 

others including hotspots so that customers enjoy their service in 

safe and comfortable ways. (Nomadic network is able to use 

WiFi AP in the desired location while moving.) Due to its data 

speed and widening coverage, they expect to be able to shape advantage. 

LG U + designs to install high-performance WiFi AP, Structure 

AP in 250-2.8 million of homes and business buildings and 50 

thousand hot spots by 2012 and build a nationwide network of 

LTE and complete All-IP Networks by July, 2013. 

Prompt '-Telecom' with the fusion and 

customer-focused service, U Convergence 

Based on the infrastructural strategy, LG U + plans to provide 

U converged services in order to extend customer's value. 

Converged Home, Social Mobility and Smart Workplace are the 

ways to burgeon the goodness. 

Converged home customers can enjoy a variety of services in 

equipment at home. The entire unit will be connected to N 

Screen for sharing storage, streaming and other services. LG U + 

also is going to release IPTV 2.0, the evolution of participatory 

media combining existing IPTV with internet and mobile web. 

Next is Social Mobility. LG U + will show differentiated mobile 

communications by combining social services and mobile communication. 

Smart Workplace is the total solution for maximising work efficiency 

by maintaining the characteristics of the individual companies. 

Combined services such as mobile office, exclusive line, 

IDC will be provided based on corporate UC (Unified Communication). 

Also, LG will develop 'SaaS' (software as a service: only 

for Small& Medium Enterprises) as a platform for implementing 

n-screen services. 

Hopefully, the ambitious penguin, LG U + , not only takes flight 

from the domestic market, but flies thousands of miles to the 

world with its innovative services. Therefore not only will they 

make a success in business but inspire people just like they are inspired 

by the flying penguin. 



U-health 

The Road Ahead - 

What is the Ubiquitous Hospital? 

Traditional Healthcare means Hospital 

Healthcare, which is near-place healthcare 

to in-person patients. That is, the Healthcare 

that was and is confined to spatiotemporal 

boundaries. Pain is Guilt? Care at a 

distance, or in-absentia care, was conducted 

via post. Thanks to telecommunication 

technologies, Telemedicine (maybe in a 

narrow sense) has extended healthcare to 

far-place patients and has been most beneficial 

for populations living in isolated 

communities and remote regions. To 

some extent, Tele-medical Healthcare has 

somewhat overcome the space limitation 

of Hospital Healthcare. 

Some say Telemedicine in a broad sense 

refers to the use of communications and 

information technologies for the delivery 

of clinical and medical care. In other 

words, Telemedicine may postulate two 

healthcare providers or professionals 

called physicians or clinicians, discussing a 

case over the telephone or videoconferencing 

equipment to conduct a real-time consultation 

between medical specialists in 

two different areas. And it means a clinical 

medicine where medical data is transferred 

through interactive audiovisual media 

for consulting and remote medical examinations. 

The three main methodological procedures 

of Telemedicine, in a wide sense, are 

store-and-forward, remote monitoring and 


Kim Hak-dong, Director of Mobicomm Inc. And 

KW U-Globe Corp. and Director of Gana Animal 

Hospital 

interactive telemedical healthcare. 

Store-and-forward telemedicine involves 

acquiring clinical or medical data, 

such as medical images, vital signs etc. 

and then transmitting this data to a physician 

or medical specialist at a convenient 

time for asynchronous assessment. A difference 

between traditional in-person and 

telemedical healthcare is the presence of 

both parties at the same time. Dermatology, 

radiology and pathology are conducive 

to asynchronous telemedicine. 

Remote monitoring enables physicians 

or medical professionals to monitor a pa- 

By Kim Hak-dong/ m57102637@korea.com 

tient remotely, using various medical devices. 

This method is primarily used for 

managing chronic diseases or specific conditions, 

such as heart disease, diabetes 

mellitus or asthma. These services can 

provide comparable healthcare outcomes 

to traditional in-person patient, supply 

greater satisfaction to patients and may be 

cost-effective. 

Interactive telemedicine services or 

telemedical healthcare provide real-time 

interactions between a patient and healthcare-providers, 

including phone conversations, 

online communication and home 

visits. Many-sided activities such as history 

review, vital signal examination, and 

psychiatric evaluations can be conducted 

to those in traditional face-to-face treatment. 

So, "interactive" telemedicine services 

may be less costly than in-person 

clinical visits. 

Strictly speaking, we'd better use 

telemedicine and telemedical healthcare 

differently, for healthcare is the service of 

providing medical or clinical care. The 

terms tele-health, tele-consultation or e- 

healthcare are at times wrongly interchanged 

with telemedicine or telemedical 

healthcare. Like the terms "medicine" and 

"healthcare," telemedicine often refers only 

to clinical and medical activities while 

the term tele-health can refer to clinical 

and non-clinical services such as medical

U-health 

education, administration, and research. 

The term e-Health is often used as an 

umbrella term that includes tele-health, 

electronic medical records and other components 

of health IT. E-Health is a large 

scale multi-disciplined area which corresponds 

to a broad field of applications 

spanning from clinical applications, (e.g. 

tele-consultation, clinical or medical decision 

support, vital signs monitoring, home 

tele-care, ambulatory healthcare and e- 

Prescribing) to personalized health professional 

continuing education and e- 

Prevention through longitudinal healthcare 

event recording and lifetime health 

care records. 

And then what is the key difference between 

e-Health and u-Health? In the aspect 

of u-Health devices, u-Health needs 

several functions, that is, performing one 

or a few dedicated functions (embedded), 

using technology while moving (mobile) 

and using devices while the user's hands, 

voice, eyes or attention are actively engaged 

with the physical environment 

(wearable). In the aspect of u-Health networking, 

it requires connecting devices, 

embedded in such a way that the connectivity 

is unobtrusive and always available 

(pervasive), linking changes in the environment 

with computer systems (contextaware) 

and perceiving its environment and 

reacting accordingly (sentient). As the result 

of the above-mentioned ubiquitous 

functions, u-Health systems, work in concert 

to support people, carrying out everyday 

life activities, tasks and rituals in easy, 

natural way by using information and intelligence 

that is hidden in the network 

connecting these devices (ambient). 

U-Health is not linking patients to the 

healthcare providers with some electrical 

devices and IT, but building up an ergonomic 

human-centered healthcare system. 

And so u-Health works anytime, 

anywhere and always on. In a seamless 

way, u-Health gathers and exchanges appropriate 

and accurate data from various 

sources, and responds just in real time to 

patients in need, and transmits medical information, 

knowledge and relevant expertise 

to those who are in need of care. 

Through patient-oriented medical interventions, 

the ambient and seamless U- 

Health encourages a focus on preventive 

measures and greater emphasis on selfcare. 

In addition, it can aid in realizing 

rapid changes in a nation's healthcare infrastructures, 

financing, administration, 

management and healthcare delivery systems 

and procedures such as reduced administration 

costs and eliminating "inappropriate 

and unnecessary" emergency 

services. Moreover, reduced administrative 

and medical costs due to more efficient 

information flow and more effective 

workflows will further reduce the cost of 

products and services. 

U-Healthcare can include not only individual 

purchasers such as patients, caregivers 

or physicians, but also large group 

purchasers such as healthcare retailers, 

hospitals or health maintenance organizations. 

Large group purchasers can also include 

communities such as senior groups, 

virtual communities, sociopolitical advocacy 

groups or even multinational corporations. 

U-Healthcare providers perceive 

value arising out of reduced consumer 

search costs, product and service promotion 

costs and business transaction costs. 

Similarly, patients perceive value arising 

out of reduced product and service search 

costs and transaction costs. In addition, 

customer-focused U-Healthcare also provides 

improved shopping experiences and 

user convenience. 

On the basis of ambient and seamless u- 

Health technologies and U-healthcare, 

digitalized e-Hospitals establish u- 

Hospital. U-hospital is not the linking and 

gathering of several e-Hospitals but the 

systematizing, converging and integrating 

of healthcare, in-hospital and out-of-hospital 

healthcare, personal and public healthcare, 

physical and mental healthcare and 

moreover health and social services. 

Under u-Hospital, healthcare will be 

given to patients regardless of whether 

they are in or out of the hospital. In particular, 

on the same financial ground, including 

private and public insurances, out-ofhospital 

care will be no less generously 

covered than in-hospital care. Today our 

most important healthcare problems involve 

chronic diseases, deaths from suicide, 

homicide and accidents, mental illness, 

drug abuse and genetic disorders. To 

deal with these problems effectively we 

need to integrate personal and public 

healthcare with u-Health technologies and 

under u-Hospital. Most healthcare problems 

today have a significant emotional 

and behavioral component and we need to 

integrate physical and mental healthcare 

through u-Health technologies. Healthcare 

is delivered to patients who are in 

need of more than healthcare. They include 

the elderly, the emotionally disturbed, 

the physically and mentally handicapped, 

alcoholics and other drug abusers 

and so on. Because these patients need an 

integration of health and social services, 

we will have to integrate ambient u-Health 

technologies into u-Hospital. 

Methodologically, it follows from u- 

Hospital that 'How far is one, a patient or 

not, able to live relatively undisturbed in 

his/her daily life, at the same time to be 

under observation, and to carry on his/her 

typical daily activities, while maintaining 

contact with his/her physician anywhere 

when needed?' 


Policy 



Jeong Marn-ki, Director General for Electronics & IT Industries at 

the Ministry of Knowledge Economy 

Is Korea an IT powerhouse in real terms? 

The phrase "IT powerhouse Korea" has been often used in the 

media as well as in daily conversations. At the same time, we are 

also aware that some are skeptical of using the phrase. Many online 

comments say that "Korea is a telecommunications infrastructure 

powerhouse, not an IT powerhouse." If so, we'd better 

pay due attention to the reasons why some refuse to refer to 

Korea as an IT powerhouse. 

First of all, in North America and many western nations, IT is 

short for information and technology. In Korea, however, IT 

stands for information and telecommunications. "Information & 

technology" and "information & telecommunication" seem similar 

at a cursory glance. Yet, taking a closer look at them, we can 

realize how different they really are. When "information and 

technology" is searched for in Wikipedia, the result says "Information 

technology (IT) is the study, design, development, implementation, 

support or management of computer-based information 

systems. .....computer hardware and software..." Then, we 

need to raise the question of whether Korea excels in computerbased 

information systems, hardware and software. The answer 

is unfortunately "no." This is because Korea does not have many 

computer-related industries whatsoever in either the hardware 

and software sectors. 

In the early 2000s, the venture business boom gave rise to a lot 

of IT venture companies, but when IT bubbles collapsed only a 

few small and medium sized IT firms managed to stay above the 

water. Yet, in terms of information and telecommunications, 

Korea seems deserving of the title "IT powerhouse" because 

Korea has bigger industries than any other nation in the communications 

technology (CT), sectors like mobile phones, fiber optic 

Internet access, digital TV and DMB (Digital Multimedia 

Broadcasting). Also, these industries are growing at a fast clip. 

If so, what can we do to make Korea a genuine IT powerhouse 

in both information & technology and information & telecommunications? 

In search of the right answer, Korea IT Times sat down with 

Jeong Marn-ki, Director General for Electronics & IT Industries 

at the Ministry of Knowledge Economy(www.mke.go.kr) to approach 

this issue from a policy point of view. 

Identifying weak links should be the first step 

toward a undeniable global IT powerhouse. 

"The Korean government's policy for the IT industry is fivefold. 

The first step is to identify where the Korean IT industry is 

the most vulnerable and raise their competitiveness," said 

Director General Jeong Marn-ki. "As of now, domestic development 

and production of information and technology -- such as 

computer software, hardware, broadcasting equipment and network 

equipment - is almost nonexistent. Korea has been solely 

dependent on imports when it comes to software industry in the 

information and technology sectors. A foreign research institute 

has recently concluded that the level of Korea's softeware industry 

is lower than that of the Philippines," he continued. 

Korea' software industry is the weakest link in the information 

and technology sector. However, domestic software development 

does take place on a small scale. A few major companies have 

continued to develop computer-based software like computer 

vaccines, map and video players and about 15 percent of the 


Policy 

broadcasting equipment is Korean-made. 

Still, the Korean IT industry's level of globalization 

is as low as that of underdeveloped 

nations. As for broadcasting equipment, 

demand-based joint technology development 

needs to be pursued, in which 

parts and materials suppliers team up with 

demanders who pro-mise to purchase the 

finished goods. Do-mestic broadcasters 

can be the buyers of jointly developed 

broadcasting equipment that also needs to 

be exported to other nations. 

Director General Jeong Marn-ki continued, 

"Most of the Korean software in use 

is far from globalization. For instance, a 

comparison between maps provided by 

some Korean company and Google Earth 

shows that while the map offered by some 

Korean company does not go beyond the 

Korean peninsula, Google's map services 

allow users to explore every nook and cranny 

of the world. 

Therefore, Internet users living abroad 

have no access to Korean-made products 

and a majority of Koreans prefer Google 

Earth to Korean counterparts. Take computer 

vaccines for example, most Internet 

users think that foreign-made vaccines are 

better in performance and interpretability 

and relatively light compared with Korean 

ones. Although Korean vaccines are good 

at fighting against domestically wellknown 

viruses, they are vulnerable to foreign-born 

viruses. As a result, the competitiveness 

of the Korean software industry 

can be strengthened only through globalization." 

Competitive industries have 

also weaknesses. 

"Competitive industries such as semiconductors, 

mobile phones, displays, fiber 

optic Internet, digital TV and DMB also 

have vulnerable areas that need to be reinforced. 

As for displays, Korean display 

panels' global share exceeds 50 percent, 

but most of the raw materials of display 

panels are imported. Over 80 percent of 

the core equipment related to exposure, 

deposition, etching and heat treatment is 

imported. This is true of semiconductors 

as well. Korea is often called a semiconductor 

powerhouse. But it is true only in 

terms of memory semiconductors like 

DRAM and flash memory. Korea has almost 

nothing when it comes to non-memory 

semiconductors like SoCs (System on 

Chip)," explained Director General Jeong. 

In the case of Korea's display industry, if 

Japanese and US display equipment manufacturers 

fail to supply global leader 

Samsung Electronics and LG Display 

with key equipment, the two display makers 

have to bring their entire production 

lines to a halt. Moreover, the global SoC 

market has been a playground for US giants 

like Intel, Qualcomm and Broadcom 

(a combined share of 60 percent), Japan 

(20.5 percent), the EU (10.9 percent) and 

Taiwan (5.1 percent). Korea's share in the 

global SoC market is less than half of 

Taiwan's. 

Director General Jeong mentioned, "The 

Ministry of Knowledge and Economy 

plans to unveil Plan for the Development 

of the SoC Industry," under which KRW 

2 trillion in public-private funds will be invested 

by 2015 to raise the exports of SoCs 

and its global market share to as much as 

USD 33 billion and 9.5 percent respectively. 

The plan also includes four strategies. 

Firstly, implementation of a project in 

which system manufacturers and fabless 

semiconductor companies jointly develop 

SoCs, creation of an SoC cluster in Pangyo, 

building a KRW 70 billion fables 

cluster fund and fostering SoC experts. 

Along with the four strategies, 13 sub-tasks 

will be hammered out to fully implement 

the plan next year. 

What's more, factoring in the fact that 

development of next-generation equipment 

costs tens of billions of won, the 

Ministry of Knowledge and Economy 

plans to provide a total of KRW 500 billion 

in R&D funds so as to achieve "demand-based 

localization of equipment development 

and production," in which 

equipment makers participate in joint development 

projects two to three years before 

scheduled commercialization. 

Deregulation is not an option 

but a must. 

When President Lee Myung-bak took 

office he said, "Since 2000, companies' facility 

investment has stood at a mere 2.2 

percent, which greatly stunts economic 

growth. The sluggish facility investment 

can be blamed on various kinds of government 

regulations." Government regulations 

on companies are a very serious 

problem. 

The Federation of Korean Industries 

(FKI) and Korea Economic Research 

Institute (KERI) have recently evaluated 

about 5,000 government regulations and 

concluded that 1,664 of them need to be 

reformed. In other words, three out of 10 

regulations are unnecessary. Director 

General Jeong said, "The Electronics and 

Telecommunications Research Institute 

(ETRI) developed WIPI (Wireless Internet 

Platform for Interoperability), which is 

Korea's standard mobile platform that 

standardizes mobile carriers' different mobile 

platforms to allow them to offer the 

same contents. Although WIPI itself is so 

well-intended, use of WIFI is not an option 

but a requirement. As a result, Black- 

Berry, developed by Canadian company 

Research In Motion (RIM), failed to break 

into the Korean market two years ago due 

to the requirement of using WIPI. If it 

hadn't been for the regulation, Koreans 

would have got their hands on smartphones 

much earlier." 

Thus, the Ministry of Knowledge and 

Economy (MKE) is determined to scrap 

or scale back conventional and perfunctory 

industry-wide regulations imposed on 

broadcasting & communications, the media 

and the IT industry's R&D. In particular 

the "2009 MKE Plan for Regulatory 

Reform" has been implemented to lower 

the entry barriers in 29 sectors for foreign 

investors. Those sectors will be opened in 

stages this year through consultations with 

relevant ministries. 

An era of convergence 

The IT industry's growth is not as impressive 

as it used to be. Its growth had 


Policy 

hovered around 15 percent in the past, but 

it is now around 4~5 percent. Director 

General Jeong, however, pointed out that 

the absence of a control tower following 

the dissolution of the Ministry of Information 

and Communication is not responsible 

for this sluggish growth. 

"The IT industry has already passed 

through the growth period to enter its maturity 

stage. So we cannot expect a lot 

from the IT industry that has already 

grown significantly. Look at the auto and 

mobile phone markets. Each household 

owns more than one car and we hardly 

find any person without a mobile phone. 

The market does exist for existing ones 

who want to replace their old gadgets with 

new ones, not for new subscribers. Therefore, 

convergence of the IT industry and 

other industries should be carried out to 

create a new industry. Rather than putting 

a ministry in charge of the entire process of 

the IT industry's convergence, the Korean 

government should lead relevant ministries 

to adapt their policies in a bid to create 

a new industry," said Director General 

Jeong. 

Mobile Industry is one of the Korea's strong IT sectors 

Fostering IT talent 

Within the MIT School of Architecture 

and Planning is a department called the 

MIT Media Lab, where students exchange 

ideas and enter into heated discussions 

to flesh out what they have brainstormed. 

"The mega success of the iPhone is not 

solely the work of Steve Jobs but nearly 

200 talents who worked hard under the 

leadership of Steve jobs. Nurturing creative 

talent is directly related to the development 

of IT products. A Korean version 

of the Media Lab should be created that 

avoids a conventional way of requiring 

students to take certain courses uniformly 

in order to allow students to flexibly take 

training-oriented courses that would help 

in R&D activities. Selection of students 

will expand to general high schools from 

the existing system in which professors 

pick students from science and foreign language 

high schools on a no-test basis," said 

MIT Media Lab 

Director General Jeong. 

Both the public and private sectors will 

annually invest KRW 17 billion in a Korean 

version of the Media Lab -- which is designed 

to foster key talent for promising IT 

convergence industries such as nanomaterials, 

bio chips, U-healthcare, intelligent 

robots and biomimicry. In addition, university 

led projects that connect academia 

to industry will be implemented. The 

Korean government and the private sector 

will provide a total of KRW 100 billion in 

seed capital over the next 10 years and a 

university will be chosen among highly 

rated universities in July to build a Media 

Lab in Korea. 

"Unfortunately, the best and brightest 

high school students are reluctant to major 

in IT in college. Thus, a breakthrough 

should be made to nurture excellent IT talent. 

For example, sharing R&D achievements 

with Korean IT companies and 

global IT titans can be one of the best solutions 

to this issue," added Director General 

Jeong. 



Academia 

Soongsil University 

The Mecca of Information Education 

Good Men Hunting to Soongsil University 

A few good IT-men 

Finding a good IT-man is like diving to 

depths of 100 feet down an ocean in search 

of pearl oysters. 

For the July edition, Korea IT Times 

went good IT-men hunting to Soongsil 

University (http://infosci.ssu.ac.kr), the 

Mecca of information education. Not only 

is the university known as a birthplace of 

various IT related departments in Korea 

but it is also recognized as the campus that 

values the good will of its students. 

"The School of Computing educates 

students to become leaders and noble citizens 

who make valuable contributions to 

the nation and the society with Christian 

leadership and ethics," said Dr. Yoo Chaewoo, 

Dean, College of IT. About 85 percent 

of its graduates in Korea today are 

recognized as experts in information technology 

with ethics, cooperation and service 

- the "pearl" of the IT industry. 

The pioneer of information 

education 


In 1970, the Department of Computer 

Science was established as the first of its 

kind in Korea. Within two decades, 

Soongsil launched the Graduate School of 

Information Science. The Department of 

Computer Communication in 1995 and 

the College of Information Science in 

1996 were also built for the first time in 

Korean history. 

The Mecca of information 

education 

The Department of Electronic Engineering, 

Information and Telecommunication 

Engineering, Artificial Intelligence 

and Software Engineering are only a few 

of the types of information education 

Soongsil University campus offers. "The 

majority of our faculty collaborates and interacts 

with leading companies in Korea 

like Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics 

and SK Telecommunications to conduct 

research addressing real-world concerns," 

said Dr. Yoo. Soongsil University's information 

education covers broadcasting engineering, 

electronic engineering and digital 

media. In striving to bring education up 

to the global standard, Soongsil reorganized 

the School of Media as Global 

School of Media in 2008. 

"The global school of media has pioneered 

media engineering, media art and 

the digital content-related field for the future 

digital society's technology and culture. 

Our main objective for this school is 

to encourage the creativity of our students 

in digital media based engineering, art and 

business administration," Dr. Yoo Chaewoo 

said. 

Explore, Outreach, and 

Interact 

Soongsil students are supported to attend 

and visit various exhibitions and conferences 

at home and abroad. Students can 

also sign up for an exchange student program 

in China. "We have been sending 

our students to CES every year. We also 

try to host seminars and conferences within 

the campus for our students to catch the

Academia 

Dr. Yoo Chae-woo, Dean, College of IT 

trends of the real world," professor Yoo 

added. The number of Chinese and 

Vietnamese students is gradually increasing 

in the Soongsil campus. Soongsil 

University is seeking to host more international 

students from countries worldwide 

in the near future. 

"During the vacation, our students fly 

with their professors to countries like 

China and Vietnam to reach out to their 

communities. There, the students volunteer 

in IT fields by teaching and sharing 

the latest information technology with 

them. This has been inspiring some of the 

students in those communities to come to 

our school to further their education," said 

Dr. Yoo. 

The School of Computing has produced 

more than 5400 graduates, who are currently 

working in diverse universities, research 

institutions, government organizations 

and industries. The graduates of 

Soongsil University School of Computing 

have been recognized and honored for 

their contributions to the advancement 

and growth of the computing field. 

Practical education and research 

opportunities 

Soongsil University's graduate schools 

have been expanding their size and content 

over the years to be noted for their research 

strengths. All students admitted to 

the graduate program are provided with 

scholarship and stipend depending upon 

involvement of projects." We hope to see 

the foreign students joining our intensive 

research at our graduate schools. All foreign 

students are waived tuition," Dr. Yoo 

added. 

More than 200 graduate students are 

working on Master and Ph.D. degrees in 

the Department of Computer Science. The 

graduates are playing active roles in various 

IT organizations. As pioneers of information 

education, Soongsil graduate 

school's strength lies in advanced research 

in new areas. 

The Department of Digital Media offers 

Master's and Ph.D. degree programs. In 

the Master's program, students acquire the 

ability to solve complex programs areas including 

media, content engineering, media 

art and aesthetics using advanced theoretical 

foundations. Masters students conduct 

further research to devise new theoretical 

models for media and innovative 

productions in a Ph.D. program. The 

Department of Digital Media has been 

conducting research on products jointly 

with governments, research centers and industry. 

The Department of Electronic Engineering 

and Department of Information 

and Communication also have been conducting 

intensive research with faculty in 

Master's and Ph.D. programs. With 31 

full-time faculty members in the program, 

the research has been noted for having 

strength in semiconductor, computer and 

control, network, communication, signal 

processing, RF, optics and biomedical engineering. 

This year, Soongsil University launched 

Convergence Research Center, or Soongsil 

Institute of Fusion Technology. Here, 

the research for green energy technology, 

green finance, digital broadcasting contents, 

robot-sensibility technology, ubiquitous 

welfare, next generation mobile web 

application, synthetic biotechnology and 

IT-convergence industrial technology will 

be conducted. 

"The word convergence is inevitable in 

every part of society we live in today. In 

order to withstand the current movement 

of ICT, we have recently opened Soongsil 

Institute of Fusion Technology. We envision 

to research and develop convergence 

projects as well as training professionals to 

be the pioneers of the new growth industry," 

said Kim Dae-keun, President of 

Soongsil University. 

Venture Business Supporter 

Soongsil University really supports its 

students when they decide to open up a 

venture business. The university provides 

finance, administration and office space. 

"We encourage and support our students 

to enter notorious activities and contests. 

Different experiences are essential in students' 

improvement," Dr. Yoo said. 

The first and the best 

Soongsil University has been a frontier 

in information education with a challenging 

spirit since its establishment. Long lasting 

history and its undying support for students' 

education have been nurturing technologists 

and researchers to be the leaders 

of IT industry. Up to 85 percent of its graduates 

are working in the IT area today 

with tradition and harmonization, and the 

university is opening arms to go global. 





for IT-Based Social Welfare Safety Net 

Gyeonggi Province (www.gg.go.kr) is actively pushing ahead 

with building an IT-based social welfare safety net. 

Korea is one of the world's IT powerhouses and Gyeonggi 

Province is the production base and the center of technology development 

of such global IT companies as Samsung Electronics 

and LG Electronics, Governor Kim Moon-soo said. 

"The province will actively foster IT convergence technology, 

green growth and ubiquitous technology as the next-generation 

new growth engines to upgrade citizens' welfare level and create 

more jobs," Gov. Kim said "Related to this, we will make all-out 

efforts to maximize synergy effects by applying IT technology to 

semiconductor, display, BT, NT, automobile and textile & material 

sectors." 

"In addition, we will graft ubiquitous technology on new generation 

energy industry in keeping with the government's campaign 

for green growth. For instance, we will foster solar energy industry, 

supply LED and build various u-IT-based environment, including 

u-City, u-floriculture and u-healthcare," he said. 

He also said that the province plans to build "Gyeonggi G-free 

zone" jointly with communication operators to enable use of 

wireless Internet everywhere in the province, by 2014, leading the 

mobile integration communication revolution. 

"Through construction of information infrastructure, we can 

create favorable environments for both residents and enterprises, 

which will lead to strengthening of cooperative system and 

smooth communication,' said Yang Jae-soo, advisor to the governor 

of the province for information & communications. 

Besides, Gyeonggi Province will build an industrial security 

belt and create a special zone for safety-related companies, while 

operating the cyber safety control center for small and mediumsized 

enterprises, he said. 

Kim Moon-soo, Governor of Gyeonggi Province 

Mecca of contents industry 

Commenting that the importance of the cultural content industry 

is growing owing to speedy development of industrial structure, 

high value added and big effects for creation of employment, 

Yang said Gyeonggi Province plans to foster content industry as a 

future-oriented growth engine. 

"In keeping with the government's goal of achieving per capita 

national income of USD 40,000, Gyeonggi Province plans to 

raise per capita output in the province from USD 15,000 in 2008 

to USD 40,000 in 2019 by developing contents industry," said the 

advisor. 

To this end, the province is propelling to create content industry 

cluster comprising game, video, cartoon and publications, foster 

manpower in the industry, as well as build a mutual cooperation 

system between private and government sectors and between 

large and smaller companies, he said. 

"As part of efforts to build the content industry cluster, we will 

actively foster the game industry in Seongnam City, cartoon and 

animation in Bucheon City, broadcasting and video in Goyang 

City and publication in Paju City," he explained. 

The province attracted the global game hub center in June 

2009, opened the game commercialization support center in 

September 2009 and established the Gyeonggi mobile app support 

center in June 2010. It plans to establish the Gyeonggi con- 



Dr. Yang Jae-soo, GyeongGi-Do governor’s advisor 

in information and communications 

tents company support center in August 

this year. 

It will also extend support to small and 

medium-sized companies for their content 

manufacture, overseas exports and activation 

of performance & video businesses. 

"In line with the government's efforts to 

pull down the high unemployment rate for 

youths, the province will actively foster 

1,300 young people as professional manpower 

in the content industry,' said Yang. 

For the first time among provincial governments, 

it will create KRW 20 billion 

won in a video-specialized fund to extend 

financial supports to 3D movies, games 

and cartoon manufacturers facing shortages 

of business funds. 

"By systematically supporting promising 

and future-oriented companies, we 

will foster Gyeonggi Province as the 

Mecca of the content industry representing 

Asia," he said. 

Smart Gyeonggi-do 

IT-based welfare policy 

For children of the underprivileged, 

Gyeonggi Province plans to establish an 

IPTV study room at all of the province's 

621 regional children centers, he said. 

Through the facility, the province will provide 

real-time EBS broadcasting and a variety 

of other educational programs on 

curricula for primary, middle and high 

schools, English and Chinese characters. 

It also set aside KRW 1.24 billion won 

in budget for informatization projects for 

the underprivileged in 2010. The fund will 

be used for expansion of informatization 

education for the disabled and senior citizens, 

assistance for informatization of 

agricultural and fishery villages and a campaign 

to send PCs to social welfare facilities. 

Noting that a growing number of residents 

in the province are using wireless 

Internet in keeping with an increase in the 

number of smartphone users, Yang said, 

"We have already developed application 

programs for smartphone on traffic information, 

libraries and tourism in the 

province. We will also continue expanding 

the services in the future. 

"For instance, we plan to offer information 

on bus routes, real estate and jobs to 

residents in the province by the end of 

July," he said. 

The advisor also said that Gyeonggi 

Province will exert best efforts for development 

of various applications for smartphones 

and activation of mobile content 

industry through close cooperation with 

Samsung Electronics and KT. 

In particular, it is pushing ahead with 

establishing Wi-Fi zone in some 3,000 

public places in the 31 cities and gun in the 

province by the end of this year under cooperation 

with communication operators 

to help residents use wireless Internet free 

of charge, he said. 

Along with this, the province will pursue 

a flexible working system based on 

ubiquitous IT, called "Smart Office" or 

"Smart Work" to enhance efficiency of administration, 

said Yang. 

"Besides, we will push for the "Smart 

Healthcare" campaign for residents' effective 

health management and the "Smart 

Water" project to supply clean and pure 

water," he added.. 



Celebration 

‘Pioneer’ is the name of TG Sambo 

After the 30th Foundation Anniversary, TG Sambo tells the history of the company and computer. 

July 2 was a night after TG Sambo's hard work as the first pioneers 

of the computer industry in Korea shined glam. 

TG Sambo(www.trigem.co.kr) had a Gala Party inviting over 100 

consumers and related people for its 30th foundation anniversary. The 

guests enjoyed the events on that night and celebrated Sambo's birthday. 

Now Korea is the Internet powerhouse of the world. Who could 

possibly know what it would be like being a starter in unopened market. 

It has been a long journey to the company, as the first computer 

company in Korea, the company created something from nothing. 

Every home owns a computer. Every office has computers to work on. 

We cannot deny that it was partly possible with the help of TG Sambo. 

The first computer of Sambo, SE-8001 

Korea IT Times met TG Sambo's leader to talk about the history of 

TG Sambo. 

The following is the interview with Sohn Jong-moon, CEO of TG 

Sambo. 

Q : I would like to congratulate on your 

30th Foundation Anniversary, could you 

tell us how you feel about it? 

A : SE-8001 by TG Sambo was the very first 

computer that Sambo and Korea made. 

The history of TG Sambo is like the history 

of computers in Korea. According to a statistics, 

the possibility of a company last for 

30 years is just 0.02 percent. In the middle 

of fierce competition, TG Sambo survived 

as one of 0.02 percent. It is because of its 

incessant efforts for better technology, but 

I think the true reason for the existence of 

the company is the customers who have 

believed in us for a long time. I truly thank 

every customer for their endless support 

and trust in TG Sambo. And we will keep 

growing as a customer-friendly enterprise. 

Q : Tell us about the first personal computers' 

yesterday and today 

A : TG Sambo released the first model SE- 


8001 which embedded 1MHz CPU 30 years 

ago. Nowadays, computers have got higher 

capability and the size is getting smaller 

than before. The development of the computer 

itself has made more progress than 

it looks. Yesterday's computer was a specialized 

device which used in only in corporations 

and researchers. However, today's 

computers have broadened territories into 

home, office and everywhere. In addition, 

as the growth of game and internet industries 

became, it was possible to get masses 

of information and enjoy the new concept 

of entertainment. 

And now computers knock the new paradigm. 

High technologies in hardware or 

software are not what customers look for 

anymore. Instead, new services and content 

are welcomed. And it is caused by the 

paradigm change. 

For the past 30 years, TG Sambo led the 

previous paradigm and from now on TG 

Sambo will take the lead in the new trend 

and suggest it to customers. 

Q : Your determination to regain the reputation 

is new after the company has 

been through a transition period? 

A : Whenever a product comes out to the 

public, it is important to set the standard. 

Needless to say, the unconditional standard 

should be the customer's eyes. 

In the past, TG Sambo released a PDA 

named "JamPad' for the first time in 

Korea. As soon as it came out, it received a 

good response from industry experts. 

However, unfortunately it just failed to persuade 

consumers. It is not because of its 

quality or design, because of that the company 

was indifferent to the customers' eyelevel. 

We think we were overconfident 

about advanced technology and disregarding 

our customers resulted in the failure. 

Ever since, TG Sambo has shown cus-

Celebration 

Sohn Jong-moon, CEO of TG Sambo (center) and guests at the Gala Party, ‘The 30 years of TG Sambo, the 30 years of Computer in Korea.’ 

tomer-oriented products. This is how we managed to last 30 years 

and how we must do for another 30 years from now on. Reviews 

for this great product design or performance evaluation for a good 

product should be done by customers, not by the producers. TG 

Sambo as a consumer-friendly business keeps trying to satisfy the 

customers by making great products. 

Q : Technology and know-how made today's Sambo. The advantages 

of your own characteristics are different from other 

companies. 

A : TG Sambo as the first computer company in Korea led the popularization 

of computers. The company is capacity-rich from 30 

years of cumulative know-how. Also, we are a customer friendly 

group. Once we led the popularization of computer usage with the 

TRGEM 20XT, desk top computer. 

Through exceptional events such as a change campaign, we have 

put in efforts to relieve the burden on the consumers to expensive 

equipment, steadily. TG's 30 years of know-how made everything 

possible including the reliability and high performance of products 

and specializing in pc pricing for customers. 

We also think that the national A/S network provides a reliable service 

and with this, a total solution such as product development 

and sales services gave high satisfaction to our consumers. 

Q : Do you have a message for the customers who have loved 

the company and products for the last 30 years? 

A : I must say that thank you to all the customers. TG Sambo's success 

in business is a result of customers' encouragement. Since 

its establishment, TG Sambo has been together in the industry 

with computers. In the future, the company as the leader in the 

computer industry will do its best for the computer history in 

Korea. Also, we will develop more of a consumer-friendly corporate 

culture and produce goods from the thinking of customers at 

their eye level and what customers need. We sincerely appreciate 

customers' encouragement and unchanging loyalty for 30 years. 

Thank you. 


Averatec Latte 



Tracing 50 Years 

of Korea's Electronics Industry 

Development 

Development and commercialization of Mobile WiMAX 

With the Smartphone trends, today is the golden time for Mobile WiMAX 

Today all is possible with internet. From a simple searching for 

information to social networking, even the banking. It is just a 'cannot-live-without' 

for modern humans. As the internet develops, it 

broadens its territory to the outside. As a result, people can access 

the web everywhere with wireless internet. 

This kind of life style is allowed by the technical advances and 

the hard work of many people. Among them, in particular, Yim 

Chu-hwan, President of Korea Digital Cable Laboratories could be 

called the man who enables wireless internet technology, the greatest 

achievements of the era. Let's trace back to 2001 when Yim was 

the Secretary-General of TTA. It was the time Korea was buzzed 

with CDMA's export marketing to China and other nations after 

the commercialization of CDMA technology for the first in the 

world. In the middle of the sensational affair, Yang Seung-taik, the 

former minister of the Ministry of Information and Communication 

predicted "The mobile world will move on Wireless Data 

Communication" and ordered Yim to make a decent standard to 

prepare for the upcoming new age. And after a while of discussing 

the research process, the research and development for wireless internet 

went into full production in 2003. 

Yim Chu-hwan was appointed as the Director of ETRI in 

November 2003, and the wireless internet project became more active 

under the conduct of Chin Dae-je, the former Minister of the 

Ministry of Information and Communication. 

Since there was a possibility of commercialization, the project 

was sponsored by only private investment companies such as SK 

Telecom, KT and Hanaro Telecom. Neither was the nationwide 

one. While ETRI and Samsung researchers co-developed, the great 

support and high interest from Lee Ki-tae, the former President of 

Telecommunication Business Unit in Samsung Electronics of 

those days were a big boost for the research, so the work flowed 

nicely. A year later, LG Electronics showed their interest in involvement 

for the project, sadly it was too late for them. 

Finally in December 2004, the development of mobile internet 

Yim Chu-hwan, President of Korea Digital Cable Laboratories 

technology, Mobile WiMAX has finished. Although it was laboratory-diagnosis 

technology, ETRI and Samsung made a hit to possess 

the mobile internet technique officially as the first in the world 

and the universe. Along with the fast standardization from IEEE, 

WiMAX, the innovative mobile internet technology, has revealed 

its appearance along with the standard nomenclature, 'IEE 

802.16e.' 

There is an interesting episode retold by Yim. ETRI and 

Samsung electronics got together to celebrate the successful completion 

of technology development. Yim said to Lee Ki-tae lightheartedly, 

"Since we developed some technology, don't we deserve 

to get something?" 



Yang Seung-taik(left), the former Minister of MIC and Invited Researcher of 

ETRI / Chin Dae-je(right), the former Minister of MIC and President&CEO of 

Skylake Incuvest & Co. 

Lee smiled thoughtfully, and then decided to give KRW 1.5 billion 

of rewards to ETRI. Lee didn't take less than 5 minutes to have 

the final word. This story is a perfect example to glimpse the reputation 

of Lee, as a man with initiative and drive. 

Soon, WiMAX got a nickname, 'WiBro,' in Korea taking the 

name from 'Wireless' and 'Broadband.' In 2005, KT and SK 

Telecom were granted ability to be the operators of the technology. 

Hanaro Telecom who participated in the beginning of the project 

unfortunately had to give up the booking during the process. The 

reason why is known that the foreign investors were against investment 

at the time. Currently, the assigned frequency for Hanaro was 

returned and remained open. 

However, the commercialization for WiMAX had been sluggish 

for the next 2 years, it was only a limited-service in certain areas including 

Seoul and Boondang in 2006. Nevertheless SK Telecom 

and KT, got the license for WiMAX; the two mobile business carriers 

slacked up the hereafter investment. 

Nowadays the wireless date usage begins to blow with the recent 

Smartphone trends, the situation turned in WiMAX's favor. Today 

is literally the golden time for Mobile WiMAX since its birth. 

KT and SK Telecom certainly changed their attitude and treated 

WiMAX nicer than before. KT developed a portable Wi-Fi router, 

'Egg,' and builds WiMAX networks all around the nation. SK 

Telecom who seemed slow in investment during the past, also has 

been involved in a variety of related businesses to keep up with the 

trend. WiMAX's popularity is not a phenomenon only in Korea. 

Rather, it is way popular in other nations. According to data recently 

examined, 568 networks of WiMAX were built in 148 countries 

around the world which is a 14.3 percent of growth from a year 

ago, 522 networks in 147 nations. It just proves the high value of 

WiMAX. 

This domestic technology is contributing to the internet usage of 

cosmopolitan people around the world especially, in Africa where 

there is incomplete internet network construction and in the Asiapacific 

region, high demand on data. If so, how we can predict the 

future of WiMAX? Yim answered with the question by saying, "It 

is unmanageable to spread the wired internet in the wide areas like 

Africa. However, wireless internet technology, WiMAX, covers 2- 

4km of area per a base station, so it is much more effective in many 

ways." Yim expected that the foreign demand will be increasing 

steadily citing the cases which are KT currently process the 

WiMAX business directly in Uzbekistan since the acquisition of a 

business in 2008 and SK Telecom have recently engaged in a business 

in Malaysia. 

He added by saying, "WiMAX has broader coverage than WiFi. 

Therefore, it has the high value in use at home and abroad. Even 

though, LTE (Long Term Evolution), the next network for the future, 

is emerging, WiMAX will firmly stand its position and be 

widely used as an international standard." 

Developing the mobile internet technology, WiMAX and retaining 

the source technology with standardization is great enough to 

get praises, but it also left some to be desired. Such as to let the technology 

to rest for over four years after its commercialization of the 

technology in 2006. And Yim named the reasons for the error of 

bidders' selection. He explained that since KT and SK Telecom already 

have been operating the wireless business, it can not be 

helped, their negative attitude on additional investment. And he 

was sorely missed by the stopover of Hanaro Telecom. 

Yim said "Because of that, Hanaro Telecom did not have a wireless 

business communications. They would actively promote network 

building compared to other carriers. If they pursued the project 

without giving up, today Korea might shine in full glory in to 

the world as the powerhouse of the Smartphone." 

In the past when Hanaro telecom and KT were competitive towards 

ADSL, wired internet access lines, the fierce fight between 

two companies enabled Korea to be the Internet powerhouse. 

Full Series Schedule 

For those interested in past or future issues of this series, here is 

the full schedule of the series: 

July 2009 : An overview 

August 2009 : The electronics industry is born 

September 2009 : Electronics industry gains momentum 

October 2009 : Color TV production opens a new vista 

November 2009 : Radios, cassettes 

and electronic watches change lifestyle 

December 2009 : The personal computer arrives 

January 2010 : TDX1 introduced into the local network 

February 2010 : TFT LCD allows determination of film thickness 

March 2010 : CDMA comes into commercial use 

April 2010 : U-technologies (part 1) 

June 2010 : U-technologies (part 2) 

July/August 2010 : WiMAX opens 

September 2010 : Era of IPTV 



FEZ 

GFEZ Develops Seven Industrial Estates 


The Gwangyang Bay Area Free Economic 

Zone (GFEZ) Authority aims to attract 

a total of USD 1.3 billion in investment 

from domestic and foreign investors 

this year, a top official of the authority 

said. We plan to attract active investment 

from new generation clean energy, including 

solar energy and wind power, futureoriented 

products and food processing sectors 

to Gwangyang bay area in 2010," said 

Choi Jong-man, commissioner of GFEZ, 

said. Up until now, traditional manufacturing 

companies centering on the steel 

and petrochemical fields have made active 

investment in the region. 

The GFEZ(www.gfez.go.kr) Authority 

was launched in 2004 with the ambitious 

goal of making the area an international 

trade hub in Northeast Asia for the 21st 

century. It celebrated its sixth anniversary 

on March 24 this year. 

"Our target for investment attraction 

will be focused on companies that can 

generate many jobs, produce container 

cargo and thereby contribute substantially 

to vitalization of Gwangyang Port," said 

Choi. "Companies which engage in advanced 

technology and materials industries 

and have great potential for sustainable 

growth, will also be welcomed," the 

GFEZ commissioner said. 

Noting that the Gwangyang Port has set 

the 2010 target for container traffic volume 

at 2 million TEU, he said, "The GFEZ 

Authority will strive to achieve the ambitious 

target through active marketing activities 

both at home and abroad." 

"In addition, the authority is developing 

or will develop seven industrial estates in 

the Gwangyang bay area to supply advanced 

industrial estates to domestic and 


Choi Jong-man, commissioner of GFEZ 

foreign companies," he said, adding that 

the seven industrial estates are Hwanggeum, 

Yulchon No. 2, Sindae Hinterland, 

Haeryong, Sepoong, Galsaman and 

Daesong. 

"Along with this, we will actively make 

the best use of such events as the F1 Korea 

Grand Prix, the EXPO 2012 Yeosu and 

the International Garden Exposition 

Suncheon Bay Korea 2013 to attract investment 

from Korean and foreign enterprises," 

said Choi. 

Investment attraction 

Commenting that the most effective 

way to create many jobs and activate the 

regional economy is the attraction of financially 

healthy and future-oriented companies, 

the commissioner said that the authority 

has already established a strategy 

to attract such competitive companies to 

the region. 

"In line with this, we have selected some 

promising companies in the steel, assembly 

machines, precision chemistry, new 

materials, logistics, tourism & leisure, 

medical service and education sectors and 

engaged in active promotion activities," 

said Choi. 

For instance, the authority plans to attract 

large domestic and foreign companies 

that have high staff number, to the 

Jangdo region of the Yulchon No.1 Industrial 

Estate. They also plan to lure foreign-

FEZ 

Choi Jong-man, commissioner of GFEZ, signs a contract to attract investment from China 

invested companies in the machinery and 

parts and shipbuilding equipment sectors 

to the free trade zone of the estate. 

"For the Sindae Hinterland Industrial 

Estate, we are persistently pushing ahead 

with enticing schools for foreign students, 

state-of-the-art medical facilities for foreign 

investors and specialized universities," 

said Choi. 

"At the same time, the authority will 

find out potential investment companies 

by building effective networks with KO- 

TRA and the foreign chambers of commerce 

and industry in Korea that participate 

in major exhibitions at home and 

abroad in a bid to attract their investment 

in the region," said the commissioner. 

Last May, Commissioner Choi visited 

Japan and succeeded in concluding an investment 

agreement with a Japanese company 

to build a solar energy parts factory 

in the Yulchon No.1 Industrial Estate. 

In June, he also visited the Hunan 

Province in China and signed a letter of intent 

with a Chinese auto parts manufacturing 

company for a 20 billion won investment 

in the Gwangyang bay area. 

The commissioner also engaged in negotiations 

to attract investment from 

yachting and high technology-related 

companies in France. 

To increase container traffic volumes at 

Gwangyang Port, the commissioner also 

visited Tianjin, Qingdao and Hong Kong 

during the period from May 24 to 28 and 

staged active marketing activities there. 

Thanks to economic recovery at home 

and abroad, container traffic volume at 

Gwangyang Port increased by 19.5 percent 

from a year earlier to 851,000 TEU as 

of the end of May. 

"If this favorable trend continues, we 

can achieve the 2010 target for container 

traffic volume set at 2 million TEU. In the 

future, we will also closely check and analyze 

the trend of global harbor logistics industry 

and map out a proper strategy," he 

said. 

Authority's 6-year 

achievements 

Since its establishment in March 2004, 

the authority has attracted a total of 6.5 

trillion won in domestic and foreign capital 

from 80 companies and created 17,165 

jobs, greatly contributing to regional development, 

despite such difficult conditions, 

including economic slowdown both at 

home and abroad. For development projects, 

industrial complexes were created 

such as the Yulchon 1 Industrial Estate 

and the Haeryong Industrial Estate, where 

about 80 companies such as Hyundai 

Engineering & Steel Engineering and 

Samwoo Heavy Industries have moved in 

or are building plants, engaging in active 

production. 

"Of the 80 firms, in particular, 31 or 

38.8 percent of the total are foreign companies, 

indicating that the Gwangyang 

bay area has succeeded in becoming an international 

trade stronghold," said Choi. 

During the 2004-2009 period, 31 foreign 

companies invested a total of 2.5 trillion 

won in the Gwangyang bay area, compared 

with 2.8 trillion won invested by 79 

foreign firms in South Jeolla Province. It 

represents 39.2 percent and 90.3 percent of 

the province in terms of the number of foreign 

companies and investment volume, 

respectively. 

"It indicates that the degree of contribution 

of GFEZ to South Jeolla Province is 

very high," said the commissioner. 

Cargo volume at Gwangyang Port also 

increased 53 percent from 1.19 million 

TEU in 2004 to 1.81 million TEU in 2009, 

playing a great role for activating the port, 

he said. 

Lee Kyung-min / info@koreaittimes.com 


Trade 

Embark on a new goal 

with a new title, K-sure 

Ryu Chang-moo, Chairman and President of the Korea Trade Insurance 

Corporation 

On July 7 the Korea Exports Insurance 

Corporation (KEIC) was officially reborn 

as the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation 

(K-sure) on its 18th birthday. It takes actions 

to achieve the vision to be a leading 

trading power and world-class trade/investment 

insurance agency. The renewal 

reflects the expanded service areas and 

changed mission for the agency. 

Choi Kyung-hwan, Minister of the 

Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) 

explained the reason for the launch by saying, 

"As the agency is reborn today, trade 

credit support will be strengthened in the 

area of trade and investment such as a variety 

of overseas investment, international 

business and overseas resource development 

for small and medium enterprises. 

K-sure is going to support not only exports 

but also imports of raw materials and key 

commodities." 

Minister Choi stressed the fact that the 

effects of past export driven policies is 

greatly limited due 

to the recent acceleration 

and cross-linking 

of international 

trade, domestic demand, 

exports, imports, 

domestic and 

foreign investment. 

And he said "With 

complex and balanced 

foreign trade 

and investment support 

policies via 

trade insurance, it 

will be possible to enhance import and the 

export revitalize the domestic industry as 

well as foreign/domestic investment." 

Later, K-sure also launched the 'K-sure 

New Vision 2010' and opened their new 

CI (Corporate Identity) in public. Ryu 

Chang-moo, Chairman and President of 

the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation 

announced that K-sure will provide trade 

insurance, to the scale of KRW 360 trillion, 

for 16,000 domestic companies in 

2020 to achieve a trade surplus amount of 

USD 2 trillion. Hereby the agency anticipates 

being one of the five top trade powers 

in the world. 

K-sure(www.ksure.or.kr) is the new 

agency brand for building an image as customer-driven 

‘Global General Trading 

and Investment Insurance Agency’ conveying 

meaning of Korea Trade Insurer, 

Korea's sure trade and Ensuring Korea's 

business. Also through the brand, K-sure 

achieves the identity construction and 

broadens communication. 

Since its inception in K-sure, the name 

is not the only thing the agency has changed. 

It became comprehensive trade and investment 

support agency from export support 

agency. It also reclaims a mandate to 

be a leading trading power, world-class 

trade and investment insurance agency. 

The Development Goals of K-sure is 

building a global identity which deserves 

in the globalization era and makes the image 

to be able to get close to the customer 

instead of a bureaucratic image with the 


Trade 

Choi Kyung-hwan, Minister of MEK, (fifth from the left) and Ryu Chang-moo, Chairman and President of K-sure, 

(fifth from the right) were at the launching of K-sure 

slogan, ‘Make your trade sure.’ It emphasizes 

the role of agency for stable trade and 

foreign investment of Korea. 

As the leading trade and investment 

support agency, it will conduct the major 

projects below. First, Income Insurance 

takes effect. It is basically the loss of security 

and financial support for the importation 

of raw materials and overseas resources. 

Second, financial support to 

SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprise) 

for a variety of international business 

and for the operating local subsidiaries. 

Third, support the domestic and 

foreign investment projects for New 

Growth Engine Industry. 

The income Insurance Plan, one of the 

main projects that K-sure carries out, develops 

high quality of trade insurance services 

and management for trade between 

companies and activation of Investment 

Transactions. In fact, the necessity of 

Import Transaction support is raised reflecting 

recent trade trends such as those 

interconnected trade in export and import, 

the convergence of trade and investment. 

Also, stable political support for securing 

oil, gas, key strategies and materials is 

needed in the long-term. 

Therefore, the Income Insurance plan 

will compensate for losses when domestic 

importers can not retrieve a prepayment in 

the payment in advance condition import 

trade. And when financial institutions 

loan necessary capital to Income Companies 

for importing key resources, the insurance 

compensates the loan losses. For imports, 

support for import trade such as for 

major resource high-tech products, and 

raw materials, import transactions should 

be shipped within 2 years after advanced 

payment. For financial institutions, loans 

and payment guarantees about importation 

for primary resources, high-tech products 

which is payment periods within a 

year. The size of support will be KRW 2 

trillion in 2010 and it will be KRW 4 trillion 

next year. The improved agency 

claims to stand for dynamic and innovative 

young company. As a professional 

agency for trade, investment risk management, 

they will shape the global image for 

Korea as a world-class company. Just like 

their new name, K-sure assures their job 

by expressing stability and confidence and 

strengthens the power of Korean companies 

to advance the global market. 




KEPCO Leads Campaign 

for Low Carbon, Green Growth 

KEPCO (www.kepco.co.kr) 

ranked first among public corporations 

in the Korean government's 

2009 managerial appraisal 

in recognition of its ambitious 

campaign for low carbon and 

green growth. The state-run company 

garnered the top position for 

the third consecutive year thanks 

to its excellent achievements under 

the leadership of CEO Kim 

Ssang-soo, including its exports of 

nuclear power plants to UAE. 

In the government's appraisal 

on management of 96 public institutions, 

whose result was announced by the Ministry 

of Strategy and Finance on June 14, 

KEPCO was selected as the best institution 

for the third consecutive year. 

"The achievement was the result of 

KEPCO executives and officials' concerted 

efforts to preoccupy overseas markets, 

beyond the limit of the domestic market 

and develop future growth engines,' a 

KEPCO spokesman said. "First of all, 

KEPCO created handsome profits 

through activation of overseas projects, including 

its exports of nuclear power plants 

to the UAE and resources development," 

he said. 

"Secondly, KEPCO established the 

2020 New Vision, which suggested the 

company's future direction, and actively 

pushed for Smart Grid Project, which 

leads green growth,' said the spokesman. 

"Under the New Vision, KEPCO will 

concentrate its capability on future-oriented 

projects and commercialize green technology 

now under development in the 


near future. By doing so, we aim to enter 

the ranks of the world's top five electric 

power companies with its 2020 sales of 

KRW 85 trillion, including KRW 27 trillion 

won in overseas sales," he said. 

He also said that the company maximized 

efficiency of management by carrying 

out Tear-Down & Redesign (TDR) innovation 

activity and introducing a system 

linking electricity charges with fuel costs. 

"We introduced 142 TDR tasks under 

the CEO Kim's new managerial strategy 

and attained some KRW 420 billion worth 

of economic effects, including KRW 23 

billion through development of compacttype 

substations and KRW 14.2 billion 

through development of optimum model 

of electric power tunnels," he said. 

KEPCO also contributed to curbing a 4 

percent increase in electric charges through 

budget saving totaling KRW 1.4 trillion, 

which broke down into KRW 700 billion 

through improvement of work style, 

KRW 90 billion through effectuation of resources, 

and KRW 600 billion through 

savings of niche budget. 

Exports of Nuclear 

Power Plant to UAE 

Based on its 30-year-long accumulated 

experience and knowhow 

on operation of nuclear 

power plants, KEPCO exported 

USD 18.6 billion worth of nuclear 

power plants to UAE, emerging 

as one of the world's top five nuclear 

power exporters. 

Its ripple effect on relevant industries 

amounts to some KRW 

30 trillion, and follow-up exports will 

reach KRW 40 trillion and it will create 

new jobs for 110,000 persons, the spokesman 

explained. 

KEPCO also achieved about KRW 600 

billion in overseas sales in 2009 and net 

profit of KRW 124.2 billion, up 11 percent 

from the previous year, by expanding its 

business arena to resources development, 

nuclear power and hydraulic power from 

thermal power generation in the past. 

"For the first time in Korea, KEPCO established 

an overseas stronghold for resources 

development by securing 300 tons 

of uranium annually from Denison of 

Canada. Through its acquisition of equity 

of Adaro Energy of Indonesia, the company 

also secured about 7 million tons of bituminous 

coal annually," he said. 

Meanwhile, KEPCO established a 

green growth team and a patent team at its 

technology headquarters and selected 

eight green technology tasks, including 

charging infrastructure of electric cars, for 

intensive development.

Debate 

"To build infrastructure of low carbon 

and green growth, the government's major 

policy task, the company will invest 

KRW 120 billion in smart grid projects by 

2013 in order to preoccupy global technology 

and develop a new growth green business 

model,' said the spokesman. 

It also won an official commendation 

from the government in recognition of its 

exemplary implementation of the government-suggested 

nine tasks, including 

manpower reduction and equity sell-offs 

of subsidiaries. 

KEPCO introduced a public competition 

system for job assignment and implemented 

large-scale personnel reshuffle 

based on ability and performance. 

It fired 1,440 workers in 2009 as part of 

its efforts for efficiency of manpower. In 

keeping with the government's policy to 

create more jobs, it employed 2,160 youth 

interns through KEPCO itself and its subsidiaries 

and spent 63.7 percent of the 

2009 budget in the first half. 

Rational Improvement 

of Electric Charge System 

KEPCO introduced a system linking 

electric charges with fuel costs for rational 

energy consumption and establishment of 

the foundation for high-quality and stable 

electric power supply. 

"The company also attained the highest 

degree in terms of customer satisfaction 

for the 11th consecutive year through introduction 

of an IT-based operating system. 

We are now offering one-stop services 

for welfare discounts to customers 

through administrative computer networks," 

he said. 

For instance, KEPCO introduced a 20 

percent electric charge discount system for 

households with more than three children 

in keeping with the government's policy to 

raise the birth rate. 

It also prepared the foundation for advanced 

labor-management relations by 

concluding a collective agreement based 

on laws and principles with the labor 

union, the spokesman said. 


Technology 

and Traditional Food, 

Can it Work? 

Technology can enable 

food production and in 

some ways it has enabled 

the gracing of our tables 

with all sorts of things. In 

April this year Kim Hyong- 

O, Speaker of the South 

Korean National Assembly, 

said to The 17th Vision 

Korea National Conference 

Soy and Kimchi fermentation jars 

at the Hotel Shilla on March 

24 that "It all depends on 

the politicians and the government 

whether we can improve the nation's agricultural industry to a higher value 

added agricultural bio-environment." He also added that "The revolution of the 

nation's agricultural industry can arise from anywhere. It can be changed with a little 

bit more of interest from the government and the politicians." This was of 

course regarding the Agrigento Korea, Strong High-Tech Agricultural Industry to 

Lead S. Korean Economy, proposal. So from the context of 'Green Growth' and 

as stakeholders in traditional culture in all parts of the world, should we use technology 

to enhance traditional food? 

Yes With 'Green Growth' has come new ways of doing things and new inventions 

that are in alignment with the peaceful processes of the past. Technology can 

speed traditional processes and remove health concerns that were not there in 

the past because they were perhaps not documented, not legislated or not apparent 

because of different immune systems that were adjusted due to small distance 

travel. Nothing is lost if the technology is exercised responsibly. 

No It isn't only proponents of 'slow food' that think we are losing it as far as too much 

technology in food manufacture is concerned. They over did it in the gold rush 

of the eighties and now most of us are guarding kids from red food coloring and 

other such practices. There is a need to get back to common sense rather than 

justifying technology and short bursts of jobs for things we never needed in the 

past. It is getting increasingly illogical to globalise food due to a number of factors 

and there has been little additional gain, such as new discoveries or inventions, 

arising from agri-tech to justify innovations never needed. Food is slow 

and there isn't any getting around it. 




KEPCO E&C 

Launches Hybrid SCR DeNOx Systems 

KEPCO E&C (KEPCO Engineering & Construction 

Company, Inc.) has succesfully developed the Hybrid SCR 

DeNOx system in the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant Unit 6 On 

July 2. Special guests attended the inaguration ceremony of the 

Hybrid SCR DeNOx system. Park Chi-seon, director of the plant 

business division of KEPCO E&C (www.kepco-enc.com), Im 

Han-gyu, director of business development in Korea East-West 

Power, Cheon Byeong-ryeol, director of business management in 

Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning 

(KETEP), all attended the ceremony along with a hundred other 

attendees. The Hybrid Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) NOx 

system was one of the power industry R&D projects in the 

Ministry of Knowledge Economy. The research is to complement 

equipment with increasing regulation of nitrogen oxide 

emissions and solve the problems of SCR systems at low load operations. 

The Ministry of Knowledge Economy supported the 

completion of this project with the budget of 10.5 billion in past 

three years since August 2007. 

KEPCO E&C, cooperated with small businesses such as 

Hanmo Corperation and Daeyoung Chemical in order to develop 

the system technology, succeeded in developing and applied 

for domestic patents and also the results of this study was 

equipped with the Ulsan heavy fuel oil fired Unit 6 in Korea East- 

West Power. 

Low CO2 emission at reduced cost 

Because of emitted nitrogen oxide from power plants and boilers, 

according to the latest increasing environmental regulations, 

it is essential to be equipped with DeNOx Facilities, therefore, the 

internal dependence on the external is very high. In North 

America and China they recently expanded the market of denitrification, 

KRW 5 trillion of DeNOx facilities and about KRW 1 

trillion of catalyst demanded will be expected to occur each year 

and the country spent approximately KRW 2 hundreds million a 

year as a catalyst for the 30,000m3 amounts. In this situation, the 

technology is expected to bring economic benefits of KRW 233 

billion a year. The costs that can replace catalysts imports will be 

about KRW 200 billion and a fuel saving potential that the temperature 

of the exhaust emissions is made to operate SCR operating 

at low load is expected about KRW 33 billion. The reductions 

of greenhouse gas gives rise to CO₂ reduction effect, 5,600 tonne 

per unit 1 generator per year and CDM project as well as the response 

to increasing environmental regulations is expected to be 

possible in fuel oil fired unit 11 and combined cycle plant unit 80. 

Utilization in the construction and improvement 

of DeNOx Facilities both at home and 

abroad 

KEPCO E&C is planning to utilize the DeNOx technology to 

improve power plants and industrial boilers. 

Supplying Hybrid SCR equipment to the low load heavy oil 

fired power plants, district heating boilers and petrochemical facilities 

beyond the internal generating systems causes to reduce 

the additional fuel costs and a lower heated coal is introduced 

that the denitrification efficiency can be solved by the lower exhaust 

gas temperatures. It will be also taken advantage of publicizing 

overseas. China is about to build up it roughly KRW 20 

trillion by 2015 and starts using the technology as promoting the 

excellence of our technology plans. 

The growth in eco-friendly company that 

contributes to Low Carbon and Green 

Growth policies 

KEPCO E&C ensures there is a global technology in the designed 

field of the thermal power plants. 

Following the trend of the reduction of greenhouse gas in response 

to recent climate change, KEPCO E&C was interested in 

removing contaminants and they are focusing on the desulfurization 

and denitrification facilities of Air Pollution Control Facility. 

G-7, one of the projects for the environmental technology development, 

propelled by the Korean Electric Power Absorption 

Reactor (KEPAR) is successfully completed and contributed to 

the localization of desulfurization facilities with commercializing 

and The low-temperature DeNOx catalyst (KoNOx R) has been 

developed that reacts at low as well as high-temperatures. 

KoNOx R is especially certified as the new environmental 

technology (NT) and a world-class product. 

KEPCO E&C continues to invest in the ESCO (Energy 

Service Company) business as well as desulfurization and denitrification 

and they are doing their best effort in order to grow as environmentally 

friendly companies with one step ahead of technology 

and services that contribute to low carbon, green growth policy. 



Country Report 

Overview of the Republic 

of Côte d’Ivoire 

1893, when it became a French colony. 

Starting from 1904-1958, the Colony of Côte 

d'Ivoire was part of the Federation of French 

Western Africa with it's headquarters located 

in Dakar, Senegal. On December 4th, 1958, 

following the "Loi Cadre," also known as the 

Overseas Reform Act, the Colony of Côte 

d'Ivoire was proclaimed the Republic of Côte 

d'Ivoire. However, it still remained a member 

of the French community. This Overseas Reform Act transferred 

a number of powers from Paris to elected territorial governments 

of colonies from the Federation of French Western Africa. 2 years 

later, on August 7, 1960, the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire acquired 

independence from the French. 

EKRA Kouassi Florent, Ambassador of Côte d'lvoire 

Korea IT Times interviewed EKRA Kouassi Florent, 

Ambassador of Côte d'Ivoire, to learn about the Republic of Côte 

d'Ivoire on the occassion of the Independence Day, which falls on 

August 7, 2010. Through the interview, we are able to take a look 

at Côte d'Ivoire's history, politics and economy. 

Introduction of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire 

The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire is a country located in West 

Africa that borders the Atlantic Ocean in the South, Mali and 

Burkina Faso in the North, Ghana in the East, and Liberia and 

Guinea in the West. The political and administrative capital of 

the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire is Yamoussoukro, while Abidjan is 

the economic capital. The country's total population is 19 million 

people and their official language is French. 

Economic Background 

The economy of the country relies on agriculture, agro-allied 

industries and import substitution manufacturing. Some of it's 

main productions include cocoa, coffee, rubber, pineapple, palm 

oil and bananas. In the mining sector, the country has gold, diamond, 

manganese, iron ore, offshore oil and natural gas deposits. 

The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire accounts for 41 percent of the combined 

GDP of the West African Economic and Monetary Union 

(UEMOA), which has a total of 8 member countries. Some of the 

major overseas trading partners include the European Union, the 

United States and ECOWAS Member States. There are also 

trade relations with Korea. From 2004-2006, the trade exchange 

between Korea and the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire was about USD 

60 million. By 2008, it reached USD 110 million and decreased 

slightly to USD 95 million in 2009. Some exports the Republic of 

Côte d'Ivoire sends to Korea include cocoa, timber and oil, while 

Korea imports fishing products, garment items, pharmaceutical 

products, books trades, plastics, rubber, cars, chemical products, 

textile fibers, clinker, machines, electronics, road building equipments 

and transport equipments into Côte d'Ivoire. 


Political Background 

The country has a multiparty political system with a presidential 

regime. There is the President of the Republic, 175 Members 

of the National Assemby, the Mayors and the President of 

Regional Councils who are all elected for 5 year terms. The major 

political parties are FPI (The Ivorian Popular Front), PDCI 

(Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire) and RDR(Republicans 

Rally). 

Historical Background 

The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire's history dates back to March 10, 

A Picture of Abidjan, the Economic Capital of Côte d’Ivoire 


Investment Guide 


4. FDI Incentive - - - Continued from June issue. 

Exemption of Customs Tariffs etc. 

According to the Tax Exemptions and Exceptions Act, customs tariffs etc. shall be 

exempted for the following capital goods used directly in businesses subject to reduction 

in corporate tax or income tax, and are imported through foreign investment notification 

on acquisition of newly issued shares and etc. 

• Capital goods imported as external or internal payment vehicles invested by 

foreign investors to foreign-invested companies 

• Capital goods imported as investment objects by foreign investors 

Exemptions of tariffs etc. shall only apply to capital goods that have completed the 

import notification under the Customs Act within 3 years after the day of the foreign investment 

notification. However, in the case that the import notification could not be 

completed in the said period due to unavoidable reasons such as delays in factory establishment approval etc. the exemption shall apply 

for up to 3 additional years with the approval of the Ministry of Strategy and Finance. 

All customs tariffs, special excise tax, and value-added tax shall be exempted for industry support services vital to strengthening the 

international competitiveness of domestic industries, businesses that require a high level of technology, or businesses operated by foreign-invested 

companies in stand-alone foreign investment areas under the Foreign Investment Promotion Act. Customs tariffs shall be 

exempted for foreign-invested companies in complex foreign investment areas, specific companies in free trade zones, foreign-invested 

companies in free economic zones, businesses operated by foreign-invested companies as a development operator of the Jeju investment 

promotion district etc. 

Application Institution: Entry point customs office 

Required documents 

• Customs tariff exemption form 

• Copy of capital goods import items account confirmation certificate 

• Documentary evidence of investment in-kind or cash imported as capital goods 

• Documentary evidence of business subject for reduction of corporate tax etc. (tax reduction certificate) 

• Invoice, B/L or AWB, price declaration, packing list, certificate of origin etc. 

A Series Schedule 

1. FDI System in Korea 

1-1 Foreign Direct Investment 

1-2 Foreign Investment Promotion 

Act 

1-3 Foreign Investment Promotion 

and Control 

2. FDI Procedures 

2-1 Foreign Investment 

Procedures 

2-2 Foreign Investment Report 

2-3 Post Management of Foreign 

Investment 

2-4 Forms 

3. Corporation Establishment 

4. FDI Incentive 

5. FDI Related Law 

>> Exceptions on Investment In-Kind: Investment In-Kind Completion Confirmation 

When foreign investors make an investment in-kind, under the commercial law, the inspector should make an inspection report 

on the performance of the investment in-kind and submit the report to the court. 

Notwithstanding such commercial law regulations, the investment in-kind completion confirmation certificate issued after the 

Customs Commissioner has checked the performance of investment in-kind and the type, quantity, price etc. of the object regarding 

capital goods invested in-kind by foreign investors, shall be considered as the inspector's inspection report according to 

the regulations of the Non-litigation Case Procedure Act. 

Hence, when a foreign investor wishes to register capital at the district court after importing capital goods to be invested in-kind, 



he/she shall receive a confirmation of investment in-kind completion from the Customs Service officer dispatched to Invest 

KOREA. 

* Document to submit: 2 copies of investment in-kind completion confirmation application form, 

import report stamp 

>> Customs Clearance for Capital GoodsDate of Business Commencement 

Tax Support for Dividends 

Dividends received by foreign investors from foreign-invested corporations operating tax reduction 

businesses are subject to tax reductions in the same rate as the portion of the amount of income 

of the tax reduction business, based on the dividend income during the reduction period. 

The initial day of reckoning for dividends from capital increase from new investments and cash, 

articles, or dividends is the same as the initial day of reckoning for corporate tax. During the period 

of 100 percent exemption of corporate tax, the dividend income tax is 100 percent exempted, and 

during the period of 50 percent reduction for corporate tax, the dividend income tax is reduced by 

50 percent. However, dividends that are capital from a capital increase through capitalization of 

revenue reserves or revaluation reserves shall be applied with the period and rate of reduction that 

are applied to the original shares that are the source of the dividends. That is to say, 100 percent for 

5 years and 50 percent for 2 years shall not be renewed. 

Shares acquired by foreign investors from Korean national shareholders of foreign-invested companies 

or shares of domestic corporations shall not be subject to tax reduction since it is recognized 

as acquisition of existing shares. However, when foreigners or foreign corporations acquire shares held by a foreigner or foreign corporation, 

the initial period and rate of reductions shall be maintained. 

Source : Invest KOREA 


Interview 

IC2 US/Korea Innovation, Results Card 

is Coming, and it's Good News 

The program has six phases: 

Phase 1 : Recruitment of applicants, 

Phase 2 : Screening and selection, 

Phase 3 : QuickLook report, 

Phase 4 : Mod 6 Training (this is part of the University of 

Texas at Austin graduate practical innovation 

program) 

Phase 5 : Presentation Competition, 

Phase 6 : Business Development. 

Here are a few of the business development results. Each of the 

company's stories is quite unique and so were the solutions... 

IC2 Program Staff in Suwon 

Pedagogy is the correct use of instructional techniques to 

achieve teaching outcomes, or styles of teaching. One style of 

teaching companies to create wealth through innovation was 

founded by George Kozmetski who made a fortune as a defense 

contractor and then became the Dean of the University of Texas 

at Austin business school. At the business school George founded 

the pedagogy behind the IC2 [that is pronounced as IC squared, 

meaning Innovation, Creativity and Capital] Institute, the institute 

with an innovation and business support program that has 

gained results in over 5 countries, for hundreds of companies. 

In Suwon, the program is headed by Dr. Joel Momberger and 

a highly qualified staff. The team are a talented bunch and the 

program has bilingual capacity. Some of the staff have been so 

impressed with the achievements of the program that they have 

begun the post graduate program from the University of Texas at 

Austin that forms part of the program offered to SMEs. 

As of August 2009, the program had screened 91 technologies, 

made 20 market research reports, had 12 technologies accepted 

for business development in the United States, made 7 results for 

business development in the United States and trained 35 people. 

This figure is conservative as the program is about to graduate the 

second year of applicants. 

DGS Co. Ltd. 

DGS Co. Ltd. Were assisted by the program to sell their coated 

clips for automatic braking systems to Hyundai. The clips are 

now fitted to all Hyundai Kias. 

Fastech 

The IC2 program also assisted Fastech, to displace their 

Japanese competitor. Fastech make production line automation 

equipment for the likes of semiconductor factories and such. 

Wheel Corp 

IC2 made an interesting gain with clamp manufacturers, 

Wheel Corp. The company makes clamps and was removed 

from their market by a cheaper competitor. After disappearing to 

add a research and development perspective to their product that 

became their competitive edge, Wheel Corp was assisted back into 

the original market that closed to them on account of price. 

Theirs is a clean illustration of a simple principle giving a competitive 

edge and a clean illustration of what the program can help 

companies with. 

Joel Momberger, Director of the program in Suwon, is passionate 

about what he does. Joel said, "Governer Kim Moon-soo had 

the vision to realize that the program really would create jobs and 

wealth." With 37,000 SMEs and 42 Universities in Kyeonggi 


Interview 

province looking for ways to develop business and innovate, Joel 

Momberger has a busy job. 

The program charges no success fees and they take no equity in 

the companies that they assist. This is the primary difference between 

the program and a venture capitalist. Joel also said that this 

has given them a great position as transparent advisors to the 

companies. The program, while it accommodates a lot of technology 

companies and technological innovations, is actually not sector 

focused. 

The core value of the program is to 'take SMEs and give them 

muscle tissue to be self sustaining,' said Joel Momberger. Joel 

used to work for a number of star companies and he has also acted 

as a head of Oracle. Joel truly believes in the program and his 

passion for it could be heard throughout the interview. 

The program is hoping to offer extended support to graduated 

companies soon and perhaps a longer business cycle. The progam 

also wants to build a network of continued help for companies 

and those able to do so would not face discouragement. The next 

round of applicants will meet international assessors in Suwon 

this month (website : www.gsbc.or.kr). 



How to.. 

How to Design 

a Safe Nano Robot or Virus 

A Moore's Law or similar ratio for ethics? Asimov's law and risks of nanotechnology as ascribed 

by the center for responsible nanotechnology 

Ethics issues of a different 

type have begun to spring up 

for science and technology 

due to a combination of factors. 

There are credibility issues 

that may hatch trust issues 

resultant from intentional 

and unintentional expected 

[in a democracy at 

Benjamin Franklin Working at his desk 

least] questioning of findings 

in environmental studies and science becoming reality as scientists 

in various fields from varying epistemological backgrounds 

grapple with timeframes, conceptualisations and facts. But as 

consumers and scientists come to understand the capacity of science 

and technology to innovate and that this capacity is increasing 

rapidly, there needs great thinkers on the side of wisdom to 

steer us from wanton disaster. 

It is interesting and very noteworthy that modern society looks 

back for guidance to thinkers such as Aristotle and Asimov for 

ethics. It is likely that human ethics in terms of acceptable standards 

have improved in some cases but there are only laws similar 

to Moore's Law calculations for innovation of technologies 

available, not ethics, a most worthy calculation. 

Issac Asimov ascribed three laws in the design of robots that 

movies, and consumers worry that some scientists too, have reversed 

to create plots intended to entertain for 120 minutes. Issac 

Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics: 

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, 

allow a human being to come to harm. 

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except 

where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection 

does not conflict with either the First or Second Law. 

As scientists get closer to making items such as the Minority 

Report's screen a reality, the voice of caution seems to ask too, 

what is a robot? Nanotechnology has taken flight into the realms 

of fantasy too and so have consumers' fears on what nano is motivated 

by. As companies post pictures of ingestible RFID the 

Center for Responsible Nanotechnology [CRN] lists the major 

pitfalls, as they correspond to each of Asimov's laws, as follows: 

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, 

allow a human being to come to harm. 

ᆞNanotech weapons would be extremely powerful and 

could lead to a dangerously unstable arms race. 

ᆞCriminals and terrorists could make effective use of the 

technology. 

ᆞExtreme solutions and abusive regulations may be attempted 

[this is the surveillance concern]. 

ᆞToo little or too much regulation can result in unrestricted 

availability [Why worry about the human spies? 

... Beware the atomic spies]. 

ᆞCompeting nanotech programs increase the danger 

[the new arms race...acknowledged]. 

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings except 

where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 

ᆞGrey goo was an early concern of nanotechnology. 


availability [Why worry about the human spies? 

... Beware the atomic spies and remote activation of ingestibles]. 

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection 

does not conflict with either the First or Second Law. 


How to.. 

ᆞCriminals and terrorists could make effective use of the 

technology. 

ᆞExtreme solutions and abusive regulations may be attempted 

[this is the surveillance concern]. 

ᆞCollective environmental damage is a natural consequence 

of cheap manufacturing, as are health risks. 

ᆞGrey goo was an early concern of nanotechnology. 


availability. 

New robotic ethical points raised by the CRN, not falling clearly 

under Asimov's laws: 

ᆞDisruption of the basis of economy is a strong possibility. 

ᆞMajor investment firms are conscious of potential economic 

impact. 

ᆞNano-built products may be vastly overpriced relative 

to their cost, perpetuating unnecessary poverty. 

ᆞSociety could be disrupted by the availability of new 

"immoral" products. 

ᆞCollective environmental damage is a natural consequence 

of cheap manufacturing, as are health risks. 

ᆞGrey goo [the ultra modern 'oil spill'] won't happen by 

accident, but eventually could be developed on purpose. 

ᆞCompeting nanotech programs increase the danger. 

ᆞRelinquishment is counterproductive [weapons facilities 

just got harder to spot]. 

ᆞSolving these problems won't be easy [We are talking 

ARMS people, I, the nonchalant consumer, is not aware 

of a United Nations work group on nano non proliferation, 

thus far]. 

Above all, the CRN says, 'a single grey goo release, or unstable 

nanotech arms race, is intolerable. Threading a path between all 

these risks will require careful advanced planning.' Yet manufacture 

has begun ... 


Column 

Computer United, 

The Republic of Korea 

ByChoiSeong 

(sstar@nsu.ac.kr) 

Dr. Choi Seong, Professor of Computer Science at 

Namseoul University 

As the separation of the division between 

the North and South Korea is becoming 

more firm, their everyday language 

and even the technical languages 

are becoming more different every day. 

Language is important in suggesting actions, 

so it is important to organize a unification 

of languages between the people of 

North and South Korea. Especially the 

rapidly changing IT language which is 

very different in each country. 

In this sense, it is preferable that the 

North and South scholars are contacting 

each other, such as opening seminars regarding 

the unification of the IT language. 

Pondering and solving such problems in 

everyday lives, together, can also speed up 

the unification. The most important thing 

in the IT area is the unification of the basic 

keyboard to enter data into the computer. 

The most crucial thing in character management 

in the computers is the typing 

characters. There was a technology called 

the "mechanization of Korean" in the 

typewriter era. A representative example is 

the Korean typewriter that copied the mechanical 

shapes of English typewriters in 

the 1950s. From the invention of such 

Korean typewriters, many people have 

been experiencing the battles between the 

2 rows, 3 rows, or the 4 rows arrangements 

for about 30 years. That is because 

the keyboard arrangement or the entering 

technology is that important. However, 

North Korea is showing much effort in developing 

IT personnel to advance the IT 

industry. What is the computer keyboard 

that is used in North Korea that is dreaming 

of the huge leap in the IT industry? 

First, the arrangement is different. In 

North Korea, the computer keyboard is 

normally called a keyboard. North and 

South Korea both use the 2 row systems 

that do not distinguish between the initial 

sounds and the last sound and the consonants 

are on the left side and the vowels 

are on the right side. However, the alphabet 

arrangement is different from South 

Korea's. 

The reason the alphabet arrangements 

are different is because North Korea does 

not apply the rules regarding the initial 

sound of the syllable and use the consonants, 

such as the L and N quite often and 

have placed these consonants in the middle. 

The cause is the difference between 

the languages of the South and the North 

Korea. Also, in the arrangement order, 

South Korea generally organizes them in 

the orders of the shape of the characters 

but North Korea is using the phonetic value 

orders. The shape of the North Korean 

keyboard according to the national criteria 

(KPS) was compared with the South 

Korean keyboard in the figure. North 

Korea has established the "Morning- 

Panther Computer cooperative company" 

to assemble and sell the computers, but because 

of the low hardware production, 

majority of the keyboards are foreignmade. 

Therefore, the majority of the keyboards 

used have the English alphabets 

but the Korean alphabets are not shown 

on the keyboard. Therefore, most of the 

computer users are using the keyboard by 

memorizing the order. Just like when we 

prepared for the music test by drawing the 

piano keyboard onto a piece of paper because 

there were very few pianos, the 

North Korean students practice their typing 

by drawing the keyboard on the pieces 

of paper. Also, on the North Korean keyboard, 

there is no Korean/ English converting 

key or a Chinese character converting 

key. 

If we were to achieve unification unexpectedly, 

it becomes a serious problem 

when computer keyboards are not unified 

between North and the South Korea. If 

the language and the entering system are 

different, then it can cause chaos, just like 

we experienced in the earlier stages of 

computer distribution. 

A scientific arrangement and education 

of the computer keyboards are an important 

basic technology in the IT era. Therefore, 

the Korean Language Information 

Association and the North Korean Language 

Association and Chinese Korean 

Language Associations have been carrying 

out much interaction and cooperation 

with the linguists and information technology 

experts to establish the standards of 

Korean arrangement and a unified keyboard 

since the mid-90s. 

However, the keyboard and entering 

codes have not been established as a national 

standard for the whole of Korea. 

We need continuous exchange, conversations 

and cooperation among the South, 

North and the Chinese (Chosun people) 

more than before. 

It would be preferable to distribute the 

Korean computer unified keyboard under 

the agreement of the Korean IT scholars in 

South, North and the Chinese (Chosun) 

Korea. Also, if possible, hosting a South, 

North and Chinese "Korean unified computer 

keyboard competition" is a solution 

to unify the alienated language cultures. 


The Future “ is Calling 

New Ideas.. 

New Challenges.. 

It's the future. 

” 

Korea's Leading Bank 

26 million customers, KRW 259 trillion (as of Mar. 31, 2010) in 

total assets and the only commercial bank in Korea to acquire 

same credit ratings with sovereign by all three major global 

credit rating agencies 

Kookmin Bank wishes the 2010 G20 Summit great success. 

Incheon Bridge KRW 783 Billion Project Financing Mandated Lead Arrangers

www.gfez.go.kr 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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T. 061) 760-5034 F. 061) 760-5520

2010-07 - Korea IT Times

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