Two government agencies joined forces on February 6 this year to boost Korea's efforts to build "Ubiquitous (u)-cities," nextgeneration towns designed to allow residents to log onto the Internet anytime and anywhere. The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) and the Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MOCT) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on cooperation in the "u-City" project, the two agencies said. Under the MOU, the two ministries will cooperate in many areas, such as the enactment of regulations for construction of u-Cities, development and certification of standardized u- City model, propulsion of u-City pilot project, R&D development of u-City related element technology, and finding out and propulsion of u- City subjects. Along with this, their cooperation will be made for exchange of information and manpower, fostering of professional manpower in the u-City field, enactment of relevant laws, international activities for global standardization and advancement into overseas markets, and other matters where cooperation is needed. Under the concluded MOU, the MIC will play a key role in infrastructure of information and communication, revamp of IT-related laws and systems, standardization of IT technology and service, and prevention of negative side-effects from informatization. Meanwhile, MOCT will be in charge of enactment of the u- City construction supporting law, revamp of city developmentrelated laws and systems, and reform of city function. Korea will push ahead with its nationwide "u-Cities" plan to cover whole regions with wireless Internet connections and hook up each and every household to the network, a senior official of the MOC said. Related to this, the two ministries formed a joint task force for the next-generation city development project, which will provide home networking and wireless Internet access to the region. Several local city governments, including Seoul, Busan and Incheon, have expressed their intentions to implement the u-City project individually. So far, six regions in South Korea are planning to invest for their own u-City projects. But there will be no big confusion between the cities because they are all participating in our forum, the official said. He also said that the task force will start to discuss the establishment of a legal system for the u-City. In addition to the wireless broadband Internet connection, the u-City project will furnish homes with integrated systems such as electronic locks, integrated videoconferencing and videophones. Also, public services such as bus, subways and stores will be managed by a single smart card under the system. Korea is not the only country where such a concept is being discussed. The Californian city of Mountain View also decided to accept an offer for free wi-fi wireless Internet services for its 70,000 residents, provided by the U.S. Internet search engine firm Google. When Korea succeeds in building successful u-Cities, the nation will further raise its status as an IT powerhouse, the official added.