Many people might have seen on TV APEC leaders taking photos in traditional clothes of the hosting country. This is one of the ceremonies of the APEC Summit held annually. This year, you will be able to see them in traditional Korean men's overcoat as the 13th APEC Summit will be hosted by Korea. The APEC Summit is one of the largest international events that brings together not only 21 leaders of member economies, but also high-level government officials, CEOs of global companies, and local and foreign press corps. Korea plans to take it as an opportunity to enhance national image and promote IT and the Korean Wave. In particular, the IT Exhibition Hall composed of four corporate zones and eight government zones has been established to let participants feel and experience cuttingedge technologies of Korea including WiBro (wireless broadband service) and satellite DMB (digital multimedia broadcasting service). I am convinced that such experiences will leave an impression of "Dynamic IT Korea" to all the participants. Recognizing the economic importance of the Asia Pacific region, the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) has carried out diverse cooperation projects with APEC member economies. The MIC hosted the first APEC TELMIN meeting, taking the initiative in deploying APII, an information communication network of the region. Since then, three more TELMIN meetings have been held in Korea, providing valuable opportunities to share ideas on pressing IT issues. For this year's APEC TELMIN meeting, the MIC suggested APEC information security strategy and policies to enhance the role of IT for effective response to disasters including earthquakes and tsunami. As a result of such efforts, Korea is currently the chair country of APEC TEL, which is Telecommunications and Information Working Group of APEC. Other than that, Korea supports various cooperative projects and gives financial or other types of aid to promote information and communication in member economies within the region. For example, the MIC invites high-level officials and IT experts of developing economies within the region and provides short or mid to long term informatization education for free. In particular, Korea plans to expand the course to a master's and doctor's degree course to train the IT experts. Korea also dispatches Internet Youth Volunteers and establishes an information access center for higher accessability of information for the public and also contributes to improving the information using environment of developing economies. As a result of these activities, more Korean IT companies are expanding to overseas markets in the region and achieving fruitful results as well as enhancing the image of Korea. The MIC anticipates that Korea's image as an IT powerhouse is enhanced through this year's APEC Leaders' Meeting and that more Korean IT companies expand overseas and enhance the brand image of Korea. The MIC also plans to strengthen regional leadership through information and communication technology so that Korea has a high advantage in international standards decision. Also, it plans to increase all types of aid to expand the 'digital Korean wave'. The MIC hopes that this year's APEC Leaders' Meeting be held successful, strengthening cooperation among member economies and sharing the vision of the future.