Reaching for the Stars With Digital Convergence ... - Korea IT Times

2006-03-12006.3.410:47AM페이지12001채널맥(3443-0701)
Policy Directions
Assemblyman calls for balanced
development to ensure global
competitiveness through quality
institutional foundation
Balanced Development of Software and Hardware
The government should seek
balanced development of software
and hardware industries this year to
upgrade the competitiveness of the
nation’s IT industry, Lee Hae-bong,
chairman of the Science Technology
Information and Communication
Committee of the National Assembly, said.
Noting that the nation’s IT policy has
been focused on hardware, including semiconductors,
handsets and LCD, Lee said,
“The government needs to actively foster
the software industry, which has been relatively
neglected, from now on for balanced
development of the software and hardware
industries.”
In an interview with Korea IT Times, he
said, “With the advent of digital convergence
era covering DMB, WiBro and
IPTV, the convergence trend between
communication and broadcasting has been
accelerated these days. To effectively cope
with such a change and offer services to
maximize customers’ satisfaction, we
should create a proper institutional foundation.
“To secure international competitiveness
of the IT industry, it is also very
important to actively foster small and
medium-sized IT venture companies producing
parts and materials, a base of the IT
industry,” said the veteran lawmaker.
In order to help domestic IT industry
secure global competitiveness and keep
sustainable growth, the government should
encourage balanced development of large
and smaller companies through mutual survival,
said Lee.
On the pending issues of Korea’s information
and communication industry, he
said that the IT industry, a hero to help the
nation overcome the 1997-1998 Asian
financial crisis, has played a locomotive
role of the national economic growth.
The IT industry is also the futuregrowth
power engine of Korea, which will
Lee Hae-bong, chairman of the Science
Technology Information and
Communication Committee of the
National Assembly
lead the national economy in the coming
years, the seasoned lawmaker said.
Thanks to the government’s policy to
foster the IT field strategically, Korea is
now leading the global market in terms of
memory semiconductors, mobile phones
and LCD.
Korea is also widely recognized as the
top-tier informatization country in the
world, securing the No. 1 position in the
ITU digital opportunity index and the No.
5 in the UN electronics government
index.
“However, to beat off latecomers
among developing countries, including
China and Taiwan, there are still many
tasks for Korea to be solved, including
The following are excerpts from an
interview with Lee Hae-bong, chairman of
the Science Technology Information and
Communication Committee of the National
Assembly:
Q: Would you describe the activities
of the Science Technology Information
and Communication Committee of the
National Assembly and its key plans for
2006?
A: The committee is in charge of
development of science technology and
national informatization through screening
of bills related to science technology and
information technology, inspection of
administration affairs, and investigation
activities.
The business scope of the committee
ranges from policies on details of science
technology and information &
communication technology to technology
processing policies pertaining
comprehensive meanings.
In keeping with the rapid development
of science technology and information
offering of services satisfying consumers’
demands, balanced development of large
and smaller IT companies, and fostering
of the software industry,” said Lee.
“Although many variables are expected
to occur in the domestic information and
communication market this year,” he continued
to say, “The overall economy is
expected to recover gradually and the
domestic IT industry is likely to be better
off compared with last year, encouraged by
the rapid development of the IT industry.”
In line with this, the government needs
to actively support a variety of marketing
activities for expanding the domestic consumption
market related to information and
communication.
communication technology, the business
scope of the committee is expanding.
In particular, the scope of the
committee is expanding to electric and
electronics fields, including Internet and
semiconductors nowadays.
Now, we should actively foster science
technology and information
communication technology sectors
carrying high value added and global
competitiveness.
We should maintain superiority over
advanced countries in the sectors by
enhancing international competitiveness
through creation of fair and transparent
competition environment and
concentrating our ability for reform of
national technology.
I think science technology and
information communication technology
should create national interests as a
growth engine through creation and
reform.
For creation of more jobs and futureoriented
growth engine, the government,
political circles and enterprises should
work together for recovery of the public
welfare and development of the national
economy.
Our committee acutely feels the
importance of science technology and
information communication technology
and strives to draw up the future blueprint
of Science Korea and IT Korea.
Q: Do you have any requests for
the government in the information
and communication sector?
A: As for a variety of new services,
which are emerging following wire &
wireless integration and convergence of
communication and broadcasting, the
government should make best efforts to
support their smooth advancement into
the market and activation of the services.
Along with this, the government
needs to revamp relevant regulations and
systems according to changes of market
environment and implement policies to
create fair competition environment in
the communication market persistently.
At the same time, the government
To help domestic companies actively
advance into overseas markets, the government
also should make best efforts to
enhance the status of Korea’s IT industry
in the global market and map out proper
measures to bolster global competitiveness
of Korean products, he said.
He said that a number of Internet violation
accidents and security-related accidents
through many forms and channels
are likely to occur this year.
To prevent such accidents, the government
and information protection companies
are required to keep close channels
and operate various prevention systems,
Lee said.
For sustained growth of the IT industry,
enterprises should secure technology
competitiveness and go all-out to develop
into global-level companies.
Enterprises need to promote their global
competitiveness through technology
and managerial reform and inject fresh
vigor into the market through activation
of facility investment, said the committee
chairman.
At the same time, they should exert allout
efforts for exploring overseas markets
and pursuing accompanying growth
through mutual survival between large
and smaller companies.
To maintain global competitiveness,
domestic enterprises should not ace into
the inner market centered on their affiliates
should push for policies, which enable
people to use communication service
safely and make more efforts for
promotion of people’s benefits from use
of communication through expansion of
tax exemption or reduction on
communication fares for socially
disadvantaged people, including
handicapped persons.
Q: Would you make some suggestions
for relevant information and
communication industry?
A: The domestic IT industry has
played a pivotal role of the national
economy.
The information and communication
industry should create new markets by
expanding investment in new services and
promote global competitiveness through
development of reformative technology
and managerial reform.
Along with this, IT enterprises need to
aggressively explore the overseas market
and expand exports of IT products in the
future.
and push for a speedy management for
development of products satisfying needs
of the global market and customers, Lee
said.
In case of small and medium-sized
enterprises, they should secure global competitiveness
through strategic alliance,
M&A, specialization of certain fields, or
expansion of business scale.
Large enterprises, for their part, they
are required to actively support promising
smaller venture companies, which are
called the root of the IT industry, through
proper payment for goods, joint research &
development, managerial assistance and
overseas joint marketing activities.
1 2 _ March 2006 KOREA IT TIMES
KOREA IT TIMES March 2006 _ 1 3