ICT Must Step Up Once Again
ICT Must Step Up Once Again
  • Chun Go-eun
  • 승인 2009.01.16 18:12
  • 댓글 0
이 기사를 공유합니다

Korean biotechnology is developing quickly
The information and communication technology industry was a hero of the Korean economy for a decade. ICT created a miracle called the Digital Han River as Korea was well known to have made the Han River Miracle. The words Han River Miracle refer to Korea rebuilding Seoul from the ashes of the Korean War. Now Korea is often called the Land of ICT or a Land Where the Future of ICT Exists. Even Japan, which once occupied Korea, was worried about being occupied by the rush of Korean ICT. ICT Korea changed the image of Korea from a developing country to an advanced country.

Now, however, dark shadows are drawing over the industry. The ICT industry is losing its energy and dynamics. The Private and public sectors do not seem to replace their sluggish attitude with passion and a frontier spirit. They are said to be like a drained battery. They are not likely to find a way out as the world economy is suffering a recession. Experts say that the ICT industry will face negative growth.

Busan Port is equipped to handle most of the shipping in Souheast Asia
As a matter of fact, the ICT industry was the relief pitcher that saved Korea from the disaster of the IMF financial crisis that hit the Korean economy from 1997 to 1999. As the year 2009 begins with the economy in a recession, ICT is called upon once again relief pitch. In this crisis, we have to look back upon the IMF period.

Ironically, the Korean ICT industry was born within a similar crisis and turmoil. In September 1997, Hanaro Telecommunications became the second local telephone service provider. Hanaro paid attention to the word of ADSL, a technology that uses telephone lines as a network for the Internet. ADSL was then a cutting-edge idea. Almost two years later in 1999, Hanaro succeeded in commercializing ADSL for the first time in history. Hanaro was a hero of the Internet networking field, and made the market. KT, now number one broadband network provider, followed Hanaro after two months.

After commercialization, the Internet created a big bang in Korea. Internet subscribers increased from 20,000 in 1998 to 10 million in 2000. Now the number has reached more than 15 million. Hanaro and KT invested 11 trillion won in their Internet system for 4 years beginning in 1999. It created more than half a million jobs and created almost 5 trillion won in added value. A lot of small and medium sized companies enjoyed the windfall of Internet investments by big companies. It gave birth to Internet solution companies, game companies and Internet transaction companies. The broadband network made every corner of Korean society connected online. Electronic government was born in this circumstance. Traditional industries including steel, automotive, shipbuilding and chemicals also changed because of the Internet in terms of planning, marketing, production and design. Innovation was the son of the Internet and the Department of Information and Communication was installed for the first time in the governmental history.

Teheran Road, or Teheran-ro, a ten lane street lined with towering office buildings, is the crowning achievement of the Korean e
Another major big bang was mobile telephone services. In November 1997 when the Korean government asked the IMF to give bail-out money, PCS service started. The mobile phone market flourished right after the big bang. Service providers were happy to see that the number of subscribers doubled every month. Samsung, LG, and Pantec made new models every year to attract customers both at home and abroad. Samsung became the world's second largest company in manufacturing mobile phones. Now Korean manufacturers can use mobile phones that can connect with the Internet wirelessly like fixed connections. The image of Samsung dramatically changed from a company that makes TV sets to a company that makes devices of the future.
Korea is now known as a technological nation
According to the Bank of Korea, the growth rate of the ICT industry recorded an average of 21.4% every year for the period of 1996~1999. Compared with other industries that have shown an average growth rate of 2.4%, the ICT industry average is 9 times more than other industries. In exports, ICT industries recorded 30.5 billion dollars in 1998 followed by 50 billion dollars in 2000 and 100 billion dollars in 2005. The trade surplus also expanded every year recording 12.3 billion dollars in 1998, 13.5 billion dollars in 1999 and 15.6 billion dollars in 2000. These numbers represent the ICT industries that decisively helped a Korea in need of a breakthrough from the IMF crisis. ICT exports took the lion's share in Korean trade. It reached 40% of the total amount of exports, thus taking 17% of the GDP. While the whole industry suffered 5.7 billion dollars deficit in trade, ICT earned 29.8 billion dollars in surplus. That illustrates the important role that ICT played.

Now is the time for ICT to take that role again while the recession hits the world and Korea. Semiconductors, TFT-LCDs, Mobile phones, and IT devices should stand the line again as they did during the critical period of the financial crisis. If it takes a deep breath, the economy will revive again.


댓글삭제
삭제한 댓글은 다시 복구할 수 없습니다.
그래도 삭제하시겠습니까?
댓글 0
댓글쓰기
계정을 선택하시면 로그인·계정인증을 통해
댓글을 남기실 수 있습니다.

  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT US
  • SIGN UP MEMBERSHIP
  • RSS
  • 2-D 678, National Assembly-daero, 36-gil, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, Korea (Postal code: 07257)
  • URL: www.koreaittimes.com | Editorial Div: 82-2-578- 0434 / 82-10-2442-9446 | North America Dept: 070-7008-0005 | Email: info@koreaittimes.com
  • Publisher and Editor in Chief: Monica Younsoo Chung | Chief Editorial Writer: Hyoung Joong Kim | Editor: Yeon Jin Jung
  • Juvenile Protection Manager: Choul Woong Yeon
  • Masthead: Korea IT Times. Copyright(C) Korea IT Times, All rights reserved.
ND소프트