'KADO (Korea Agency For Digital Opportunity & Promotion) is making enormous contributions to the spread of what might be called the igital Hanryu (Korean Wave). Set up with the mandate to address the problem of the widening global digital divide, KADO is busy implementing overseas informatization educational programs as well as apprising visiting experts on the digital divide as to what might be the best situation to their particular problem.

president and CEO of KADO Son, Yeon-gi, Ph.D

KADO is especially worthy of notice since a large part of the Agency responsibility is to portray the digital world as both friendly and approachable and as a means by which all nations worldwide can enjoy the benefits of informatization. In this connection, president and CEO of KADO Son, Yeon-gi, Ph.D says in a special interview with the Korea IT Times, ADO position as a global digital divide solution institution is becoming higher by the day. Hong Kong Counsel of Social Services composed of a large-sized delegation of 10 to15 persons expressed their hope to visit our institution on the occasion of the Month for Information & Culture this forthcoming June following recent consecutive visits from Japan and Kenya to ask for comprehensive advice on resolving the problem of the Digital Divide. To contribute to the spread of this kind of Digital Hanryu, KADO has beefed up its organizational and specialization capabilities by means of the reorganization it completed on March 15, the KADO president explains. Through this reorganization, Mr. Son has committed himself to putting emphasis on promoting the IT 839 strategy as an advanced country development strategy and as a means of boosting international awareness about Digital Hanryu. The president underscores that KADO goal also is to create the image of a riendly Digital World in which all nations can enjoy the benefits of information and communication services, explaining that the vision of the MIC (Ministry of Information & Communication) as well as being a national policy objective in 2005 is to achieve a national income per capital level of $20,000 through the IT839 strategy. On the occasion of Information and Communication Day, held April 22, The Korea IT Times met with Mr. Son of KADO to hear about the Agency vision to construct a digital society in which everyone can participate, approaches by which the digital divide can be bridged, and the Agency middle to long-term strategy to develop as an institution specializing in delivering solutions to address the global digital divide. Q: First off, please explain to our readers what your Agency vision is of a digital society in which everyone can participate A: If there is a divide between certain groups of peoples in accessing and utilizing all sorts of various digital devices that have become the normal currency of civilization, our society definitely can become a riendly Digital World. In that respect, KADO will construct a total of 76 information centers this year including a total of 16 information complexes that will be equipped with e-learning and e-life technologies through which information can be accessed and used for the purpose of individual and public betterment. In addition to these information centers, KADO will enhance the capability of 22,000 early new PCs by upgrading their parts and then distributing them to worthy recipients at home and abroad. In addition to such efforts, we will provide training on how to get the best out of these centers for some 350,000 persons in the interests of building digital capability in areas that are vulnerable to lack of access to on-line information. Q: What your opinion on the Digital Divide and how it might be resolved A: Adjustment to the digital culture and societal balance will be possible when the greater part of the nation is able to gain access to digital information equally and makes use of it. If, on the other hand, someone or some group monopolizes it and exerts an exclusive right to it, then regulation and balance within the digital culture will be destroyed. Henceforth, we must attempt to convert perceptions on the use of digital information for the purpose of the common good. In fact, digital information must serve as a means for enhancing the common good, and not be a goal in itself. It must serve as a way to boost the quality of life equally, rather than be another form of deprivation and suppression. Our digital divide solution effort starts from suppositions such as these. There is no royal road to resolving the informational divide. I think that the best thing is to increase points of contact between groups within our society in a steady fashion and thereby make continuous efforts to diminish the digital divide. Q: Please explain KADO middle and long-term strategy to develop continuously as a global institution specializing in delivering digital divide solutions. A: We will continue our overseas IT expert research study project this year, under which we will invite a total of 265 professionals in the IT policy as well as the technology fields from those countries where we have identified that we have a strategic mission. Moreover, KADO plans to dispatch overseas a total of 75 nternet youth service teams totaling 300 people in all to 30 countries around the globe. We will also construct two information access centers in 2 countries. If we can provide such information access centers with our digital content, then we believe that this will be an excellent way to promote the spread of Digital Hanryu. In the near future, you can expect KADO to carry out various kinds of cooperative projects with Microsoft in the interests of delivering global digital divide solutions and also to make headway in the development of various support models designed to resolve the international digital divide. Through these projects, KADO will build its capability as an institution specialized in resolving global digital divide issues. Q: In that regard, please inform our readers precisely how your Agency plans to achieve this goal A: Be means of a reorganization completed March 15, KADO has strengthened its organizational and specialization capabilities. First, we have a newly established our policy planning team. The team breaks down into three divisions: the management innovation team, policy research team, and publicity business team. Our policy planning team will increase our organization efficiency through management innovation and beef up our capability and image as a national service institution through public relations activities as well as all sorts of external cooperative projects. In addition, the newly established knowledge information management team will foster the creation of a pan-national informational database network on the subject of informatization and encourage various groups to access it as a means of arriving at their own digital divide solutions. Q: What project will have priority with KADO this year A: Above all, it will be to strengthen the nation digital capability and to expand the opportunity for access to digital information. By late 2002, our Agency had introduced 10 million persons to informatization training in order to spread utilization of the Internet, and through this initiative, KADO has helped to strengthen the digital capability of society at large. By further developing a variety of educational courses of practical value that are possible to apply to actual life as well as well thought out publicity campaigns, KADO will help to prepare the nation for emerging aspects of the biquitous society such as the proliferation of home networks. By fostering international awareness of the IT839 strategy as well as Digital Hanryu as additional priorities this year, KADO will be in the van of raising the profile of Korea as a country that is anxious about those who are vulnerable to being left behind in the advancing digital age.