With Jeju Province standing out as a testbed for all sorts of IT projects and the biquitous Jeju project now under construction, the IT industry is being highlighted as a potential major activity for the economy of the Jeju region. The fact that Jeju is the most suitable venue as a testbed is one of the reasons why Daum Communication Co., Ltd. chose the island province as the new location of the company headquarters. Daum Communication decision highlights the possibility that Jeju can become a new cradle of IT-based media industry.

Jeju Province governor Kim Tae-hwan

Jeju Province governor Kim Tae-hwan, underscored this development in an exclusive interview with the Korea IT Times on the occasion of Information & Communication Month. ith the continuous advance of the national wireless Internet environment, and with the need to check and fine-tune cutting-edge information and telecommunication projects destined for national use, such as telematics, Jeju is becoming distinguished as an IT estbed region. Here, Jeju IT infrastructure is assessed to be of world-class level. As the CDMA network as well as the high-speed Internet network are being constructed across the whole Jeju area and the colleges in the province produce some 1,500 IT/CT-associated graduates every year, the province was ranked first in terms of informatization-capability among 16 cities and provinces nationwide. Governor Kim also points out that thanks to its specific geographical characteristics, the province fulfils the optimal necessary conditions to construct an informatization model and disseminate the effects. This is especially so because there is such a high inflow and outflow of population in Jeju and the province possesses a suitable climate and environment for fostering a model IT-based resort complex, the province is becoming a testing ground for new IT technology for companies at home and abroad, he said. The Governor stressed that the greatest reason why Jeju is rising as an IT testbed, is that the influence from around the globe has helped broaden the mindsets of Jeju residents and led to discover new perspectives. An pen mind and thought process on the part of provincial people are expected to shape Jeju as a ground for IT new technology testing, he emphasized. The Korea IT Times met Governor Kim to hear about the progress of the U-Jeju project, the Jeju telematics model city project, and progress being made by Jeju International Free City. Q: First off, please explain the U-Jeju construction project A: Each nation in the world has the goal of establishing a Ubiquitous society upon its home soil, in which an individual quality of life is improved, corporate productivity is increased, public service innovation is enhanced, and comprehensive competitive ability of the country is boosted. Our country also is striving to achieve a Ubiquitous society, that is, an intelligence-based society, as a new national development strategy. In connection with such a national strategy, Jeju province also is striving to be the embodiment of biquitous Jeju. First of all, Jeju paved the way for the in-car Ubiquitous era, by being the first in the country to introduce the technology, so that it is possible to get all the information you want in your car, by driving the telematics model city project in which 10 billion won is being invested from September 2004 to July 2006. In conjunction with the telematics service, Jeju will attract DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) and W-CDMA services in 2005. Since the province will find difficulty in realizing its biquitous Jeju project under its own steam, owing to technical and infrastructure limits Jeju province plans to pursue the project in conjunction with central government strategy. Q: What is your opinion regarding Jeju as a cutting-edge IT industry testbed A: Jeju area satisfies all optimal requisites as a cutting-edge IT industry testbed in that the region has an open electronic wave environment, its IT infrastructure is well developed as an independent, geographically discrete entity, and the region is a worldwide tourism destination as well as an international free city. I believe that it is possible for the MIC (Ministry of Information & Communication) to drive forward the telematics model city project as part of the IT839 strategy for the purpose of realizing -Korea. For this sake, Jeju province will play a testbed hub role for our country cutting-edge, prototype IT services by attracting the WiBro service, DMB service, RFID utilization service, and WCDMA service in conjunction with the IT839 strategy and in this manner realize a -Jeju. Q: Then, what are the specific characteristics of the Jeju telematics model city project as well as its likely impact A: Telematics means the n-car multimedia services that provide the driver with traffic guidance and emergency or rescue information while offering fellow passengers infotainment such as Internet access, movies and games. Following the opening of the Jeju Telematics Center in late Dec. 9, Jeju province has been offering a pilot service from the end of December last year. Accordingly, tourists who visit Jeju can get all sorts of information they want in real-time through terminals installed in rental cars. In the interests of developing the telematics service, Jeju will disseminate such services such as mobile office service, foreign language support in Japanese and Chinese, and sell 2,000 terminals to car owners for installation in their vehicles. As such time as the telematics model city project is completed, tourists who visit Jeju will indeed be able to sample the Ubi-quitous in-car experience! Q: How is the Jeju International Free City project progressing A: The Jeju International Free City is a national project to develop Jeju as a tourism/resort-oriented international free city in Northeast Asia to take advantage of the wave of globalization. As 10-year long project begun 2002 and due for completion in 2011, Jeju International Free City will eventually attract 9.93 million tourists annually and boost per capita provincial income to $20,000 by 2011. The project introduction phase is from 2002 to 2003, growth/development phase 2004 to 2007, and maturation/fixation stage, 2008 to 2011. Q: How are you managing to raft IT onto the Jeju administration A: As the importance of IT technology is to enhance efficiency for the provincial administration of the future, our province also is accelerating projects to boost our in-house digitalization. Q: How do you assess the informatization level of Jeju provincial residents A: The coefficient of Internet utilization for Jeju residents has increased by 7.3% from 59.6% at the end of 2003 to 66.9% at the end of 2004. In the case of computer utilization coefficients, Jeju residents were in third place with 70.3% following Kyunggi and Kyungnam. In addition, computer possession per household is 70.6% and high-speed Internet subscriptions are No. 2 with a dissemination rate of 71.3% following Kyunggi as of the end of 2004, according to the Korea Internet Promotion Agency.