Three major international events on information and communications will soon be held at the same place and time during the month of June. The events will bring information and communications-related ministers, business leaders, and broadcasters from various countries together in Seoul.

Nuclear power generation has come into focus as a way to implement the government's Low Carbon, Green Growth vision. In 2008, the amount of carbon emissions from Korea's nuclear power generation decreased by about 100 million tons compared with fossil fuels. The government decided to stress the need for nuclear power generation and increase the portion of such power generation by building more nuclear power plants.

The Korea IT Times interviewed David Lee, vice president at Zenitum Inc, earlier this month using his company's new online service wetoku. He spoke about many subjects including online services in Korea and the software industry. The entire 15 minute video interview is accessible just below this paragraph; just click the play button.We have reprinted excerpts from the interview below, which is only about half of the entire conversation.

APTX, a leading Ireland-based developer of licensable intellectual property for consumer audio compression, announced on April 8 that it appointed Seoul-based Apache Korea Corp. to provide sales, vertical marketing and technical support for apt-X audio codec technology in the Republic of Korea. The Korea IT Times spoke with Mike Canevaro, vice-president of Licensing Business Development for APTX, to get more details about this relationship.

Mr. Canevaro is based in Log Angeles, and is responsible for driving forward and implementing the apt-X licensing business strategy within the consumer electronics, mobile and broadcast industries. Prior to joining APTX, Mr. Canevaro spent 6 years with SRS Labs; he has also held various management positions with AOL Time Warner and CMGi.

In spite of concerns before the show about a possible reduction in size, Seoul Motor Show 2009 has risen to a fever pitch as the number of visitors has reached 340 thousand as of April 5.

Lee Youn-ho filled the offices of President of the LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI) and Vice Chairman of the Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) before becoming the Minister of Knowledge Economy in February 2008. The Ministry is in charge of the real economy and supporting economic activity. From the first he has insisted on creating a new growth engine and strengthening national competitiveness, and at the time of this interview he announced again: “The Ministry will focus on raising green cars for a new growth engine project.”

The Ministry has an active interest in the Seoul Motor Show, although it does not hold any direct influence or responsibility for the Show. The Minister expects the show to be an opportunity to stimulate the depressed domestic market. Minister Lee spoke in more detail about this in a recent interview.

Korea Credit Guarantee Fund marked the 33rd anniversary this year. For the past few years, it has contributed to helping thousands of small and medium sized companies whose businesses are very promising and deserve the credit guarantee services from KODIT. Experts would compare KODIT to a firefighter who bravely jumps into the flames when people are at the crossroads of life and death. When the financial crisis swept through Korea in 1997 from 1999, KODIT did just that. It gave a huge amount of the credit loans to small and medium sized companies in desperate need of money. The Korea IT Times met with Ahn Taik-soo, chairman and CEO of KODIT.

Hannover Messe 2009, a collection of ten international trade fairs, will take place from the 20th to 24th of April in Hannover, Germany. Last year Hannover Messe were successful international trade fairs as 5,100 exhibitors from over 60 different countries participated and created an impressive demonstration of cuttingedge products.

The following is an interview with Kim Suk-joon, president of Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI), about the institute's 2009 business targets and projects to develop the nation's science and technology.