Future Code-named Santa Rosa Korea

Transcription

Contents
June 2007 / Vol. 36
40 IT Korea Analysis
27
Design Forum
47
FIRA RoboWorld Cup 2007
Graphic Design _ Kang Mun-suk
Chairman & Publisher
Executive Advisor
President-Publisher
10
Publisher's Message
Virtual Reality
Convergence of Design and IT Forum
30
32
34
11
14
15
16
17
18
Editorial
‘Ware the Uncanny Valley
Hot Issue
Future Code-named Santa Rosa
Korea-US FTA Affects IT
Converged Services
IBM to Combat Data Center Energy
Crisis
Scenario
Information Stream
20
In Depth Report / Hanaro Telecom
Who Will Hold Hanaro?
22
Virtual Reality
IT Enterprises Run to Second Life
36
37
38
40
42
44
24
27
28
29
8
Academia
Adapting to Convergence
Consumer-oriented Design
45
_ June 2007 KOREA IT TIMES
Policy Direction
Using Digital Information for Analog
Information Flow
Information Culture Month
Information and Communication
Yesterday and Today
Series of Fortunate Events
Open Korea
Asian games to Mark Incheon as One of
World’s Top 10 Cities
52
54
56
58
60
62
64
IT 21 Conference 2007
Enabling Fusion of Technology, Digital
Convergence
Greater Budget Backing Educational
Industrial Collaboration
Data, Information, Knowledge
66
Google Chairman
Eric Schmidt Goes After Windows
47
Cover Story
Robot Industry Overview
Robots, an Expert’s View
One Robot in Every Household (MOCIE)
48
50
51
Preview Event
United Cities, Local Governments World
Congress in Jeju
46
FEZ
Graduating in 2009
New Product
Emotional, Technological Revolution
Environment Day
Eco-Friendly Key to Competitiveness
Environmental Technology Frontrunner
Samsung Techwin -- From Manned
Security to Unmanned Security
From One Technical Challenge to
Another
Robotics in Sports, Education
Android Soccer Success
European Robot Soccer Teams Play
Second Fiddle to Korea
Ocean Day
Aiming for Top 5 Ocean Superpower
KCTA 2007
Mature Technology
Exhibition
74
Financing
Integrated Capital Market Law
76
Essay
Blue Horizon of Digital Hallyu VI
78
80
81
82
84
Industry
Microsoft Imagine Cup 2007
IT Olympics Software Competition
85
86
90
Analysis
Korea Adapting?
91
68
Global Match Making
Channel-focused Security in Korean
Market
70
People & Events
72
Expert Column
Particle Accelerators, Favorite of
Nanotechnology Age
Country Report
Narrowing Digital Divide
Dole : Most Trusted Company in Korea
EU Day : Peace, Prosperity, Security
S&T Policy in Italy, Cooperation with Korea
Real-time News
Open Letter from Kim Moon-soo
Korea’s Software Exports on Rise
Two New HSDPA Exclusive Phones
News Briefs
Parade of Nations
Italy National Day
Europe Day Reception
Scholaships Recognize Extraordinary
Visit from Royalty
Annual Korea-Germany Association General Meeting
Wines of Argentina First Grand Tasting in Seoul
Kim Tae -sub
Han Kon- ju
Chung, Monica Younboo
Special Advisor
Chang Hong-yul
Supplement Director
Managing Editor
Senior Editor
Editorial Director
Kim Joo-hyung
Yeo Hong-il
Matthew Weigand
Lee Kyong-hwan
IT Industry Editors
Business Editor
Contributing Writers
Lee Chung-moo
Lee Kang-soon
Koo Won-hum
Staff Reporters
Internet Manager
Chun, Clair Go-eun
Yeon Choul-woong
Lee Suk-woo
Lee Kyung-min
Shin Sung-won
Jude Kim
Kang Mun-suk
Cho Hee-sang
Ryu Mi-ja
Bok Dong-kyu
Business Manager
Circulation Manager
Administration Manager
PR Manager
Sales & Marketing Manager
Publication Team Manager
Kim Chang-ho
Park Mi-jung
Kim Si-hwan
Kim Rae-ho
Yoon Jong-jin
Yoon Hee-joo
Financial Auditor
Financial Team
Choi Eun-kyung
Cheon Hong-joo
Correspondents
N.America
Europe
Southeast Asia
Far East
China
Oceania
SW Asia
M.East
James Joo young-hoon
Choi Young-zun. Lee Sung-ki
Lee Jin-bok
Kim Moon-soo
Chun Jong-sung
You In-kyung
Choi Duk-hee
Chung Jung-ja
Photographer
Advertising Manager
Art Director
Designers
Overseas Sales/Distribution Agents ( Reference: www.ittimes.co.kr)
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Editorial
‘Ware
the Uncanny
Valley
* Virtual Reality
* FIRA RoboWorld Cup 2007
* Convergence of Design and IT Forum
The Repliee Q1 Actroid robot looks
strangely unsettling
Kim Tae-sub
Chairman and Publisher
The days are heating up here in Seoul, and the trees are in full bloom. Its good to
use this time to reflect on growth, and specifically in this magazine the growth of the
Korean IT industry.
Technology is changing the world every day, and yet the more it changes the more it
stays the same. Virtual world creator Linden Labs created a place where the
imagination of its users can run unrestricted. Now, corporations are also entering the
virtual place, also trying to push their ideas in an unrestricted manner. What was once
a virtual playground is now becoming more and more like the real world.
And as the virtual world becomes more like reality, reality becomes more like a
virtual world with the advancement of robot technology. The robotics industry in
Korea is showing its strength in the FIRA RoboWorld Cup 2007 this year in San
Francisco. Read all about the father of robotics in this issue, Kim Jong-hwan.
Finally, the Korean university Seoul National University of Technology was host to
an international conference and symposium this month that spoke about the
convergence of universal design and information technology. Universal design is
something that most of the people in the world are familiar with, and deals with the
look and feel of everything we use in our daily lives. As information technology
becomes more and more a part of our daily life, universal design becomes imperative.
Read about it in this issue as well.
Kim Tae-sub
1 0 _ June 2007 KOREA IT TIMES
A
s advances in robotics technology increase, robots are
designed that look more and more like people. Robotics
engineers often aim for a fully humanoid-looking robot
that can mimic people in every way. However, that may not
always be a good thing, due to the Uncanny Valley.
The Uncanny Valley is a concept that was introduced by
Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970. The idea is that
humans respond to a robot with only a few human-like
characteristics such as two eyes or speech in a positive way.
Simply put, a boxy, awkward robot is cute. Robot designs that
are more human-like in appearance cause normal humans
respond to them in an increasingly positive way. A robot that
looks like a child's toy is endearing. However, once a robot
design passes a certain level of human-like appearance, normal
people suddenly begin to respond very negatively to the robot.
Said in another way, to design a robot that looks almost human
is to design a monster.
This means that if roboticists attempt to design a robot to
look like a human they need to design a perfect imitation human
or it is a complete failure. There is no room for mistakes.
Now, at this time, many new android style robot designs are
sitting squarely in the Uncanny Valley. For instance, the robot
Actroid Repliee Q1
designed by Osaka
A graph of the Uncanny Valley concept
University
is
considered to be an
excellent example of
this phenomenon.
The robot almost
looks like a young,
pleasant Japanese
girl.
It mimics
blinking, speaking
and
breathing.
Repliee can also
react quickly enough to push away
a potential slap or poke.
However, the robot fails to look
human enough. It in fact
maintains a strong and
unmistakable air of creepiness.
All kinds of people, young and
old, men and women, respond
to the robot with distrust or even
disgust. It seems as if the robot
is trying too hard, and failing, to
be human. People respond to it
like a monster. It is something A FIRA RoboWorld Cup
soccer robot looks
out of the Uncanny Valley.
Another example of this endearing
Uncanny Valley phenomenon is the Albert Hubo designed by
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
The robot is basically the same model as the Hubo also designed
by KAIST, except the Albert Hubo has an animated human-like
head that looks like Albert Einstein. It seems like Albert
Einstein's head was taken from its grave and re-animated using
artificial means, which could be the plot of a horror movie. The
design is firmly within the Uncanny Valley.
The normal model Hubo with a stylized head that looks like a
computer monitor, on the other hand, elicits no such response
from people. And the small, block-shaped soccer robots from
KAIST that participate in the RoboWorld Cup each year do not
look strange or threatening at all. They look like the best kind of
toys.
So while it is definitely a great technical challenge for
roboticists to design and built a robot that looks, acts, and seems
human, it might not be the best focus for the Korean robotics
industry. Cute, toy-like robots seem to be the way to go.
KOREA IT TIMES June 2007 _ 1 1
Letters to the Editor
Have your voice
heard, and your
opinion published.
Our July edition of the Korea IT Times will
include a new feature, Letters to the Editor.
Have an insight, a correction, or a response to a
story?
Send it in to [email protected], and tell us
what you think. Selected messages each month
will be published from all sides of an issue.
See your words in print!
Hot Issue
Future Code-named Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa is the
Intel's next generation
platform that is based
on Intel Centrino Duo
and Intel Centrino Pro
technology.
The
Santa Rosa used to be
Intel's inside code
name
that
the
company used as they
were developing the
technology. It didn't
take so long to be
open to the public.
Intel's platforms
have always been the
turning point of the
PC industry. Not
Intel Turbo Memory (left) and Intel Next only does the new
Generation Wireless
platform
have
upgraded performance, but it also drops the price of older
products. Thus, the new platform encourages the
popularization of PCs and the development of the new
application industry. Every time Intel upgraded the platform,
the devices for 3 Dimensional graphics and high quality
images were also upgraded. Intel's platform not only applies
to laptop PCs, but also to portable multimedia devices such as
PDAs. This is exactly why information technology
corporations pay high attention to Santa Rosa.
To 286, and the Centrino
A typical PC platform is composed of a Central Processing
Unit (CPU), wireless LAN and a set of chips, including
graphics and memory. The Santa Rosa Platform contains
Intel Core2Duo 800MHZ processors and Intel 965 mobile
chipsets and double memory as an option. Intel's next
generation Centrino chipset has continuously evolved with
Carmel, Sonoma, Napa, Merom and now Santa Rosa.
Before the Pentium chip, there were microprocessors called
the x86 series -- 286, 386 and 486. These evolutions are led
by CPU information since it was the CPU that determined a
PC's maximum speed. The microprocessor that impacted the
industry a great deal was the chip 8086 and 8088 that IBM
first invented for personal computers in 1979. The 286 PC in
1982 came up with better speed and memory capacity.
Multitasking was provided under the second mode. In 1993,
Pentium operated at speeds of 60 and 66 MHZ, but it was
soon terminated due to excessive heat and bugs. The code
name P-54 then popped out to open up a whole new Pentium
Era. Pentium II did not have a PIN and provided in Single
Edge Contact (SEC) form.
The Centrino processors we use nowadays were first shown
in 2003. At that time, Centrino was composed of Pentium M
CPU, an 855 main board chipset, and Intel Pro Wireless 2100
Wireless LAN. This is not much different from the newest
platform Santa Rosa. The focus of evolution of CPUs at the
current point is how to reduce heat and energy waste while
keeping the fast speed. Centrino Duo acts as if there are two
heads, enabling fast speed and multitasking, but it really
means energy saving because while one core operates, the
other rests.
Wireless service competitive to cable
The Santa Rosa chip
The Centrino is built to be competitive in the mobile
environment. The PC that is mounted with the Santa Rosa
platform will boot faster and have a faster access to wireless
LAN. The speed of Wireless LAN is 135 Mbps maximum,
which is 2.5 times faster than the 54 Mbps of a Napa PC.
Even the chipset has met its whole new world with the 965
Chipset, containing DDR2 800 MHz memory with built-in
graphic chip, 965GM. This means Santa Rosa notebooks will
give the best suitable condition for watching movies, working
with 3D graphics and playing games.
The most impressive news about Santa Rosa is its Turbo
Memory (known as Robson) and 802. 11 Nano wireless LAN.
This is the brand new and innovative technology that Intel
applied to a desktop. The thing about the turbo memory is
that it is optional to the consumers. The cost will add up if
the turbo memory is added. The President of Intel Korea Lee
Hee-sung noted: "I understand that it is not the best price for
the consumers, yet we expect the technology to be
universalized by the end of the year, enabling us to offer
affordable price for turbo memory."
Korea-US FTA Affects IT
The government revealed the full text of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA)
between South Korea and the United States on May 25.
Some analysts pointed out that there are still controversies over such issues
as strengthening the crackdown on infringement of intellectual property rights
and the application of international labor standards to Gaeseong Industrial
Complex.
In particular, as the United States is persistently raising possibility of
renegotiations for the FTA. It is likely to face difficulties before it gains
ratification from Congress.
In the IT sector, both countries have agreed to expand the scope of the
mutual recognition agreement (MRA) for communication equipment from the
test score levels to product certificates.
Accordingly, Korea can export communication equipment to the US with
just a domestically made product certificate.
Those offering Internet online services must offer individual information on
invaders even without a warrant if owners of intellectual property rights
request the information on the invaders when acts infringing intellectual
property rights occurred on a relevant site. At the same time, a site allowing
downloading without permission may be shut down.
The crackdown on illegal copies and illegal printing were additionally
confirmed. In particular, it concretely stipulated a crackdown on infringement
of intellectual property rights.
In the intellectual property protection field, those who filmed or were trying
to film a movie through a video camera at a theater are to be punished.
South Korea and the United States also agreed to apply safeguard measures
more than once against the same product. The agreement also says that a party
taking global safeguard measures may exclude imports of goods from the
other party if such imports are not a substantial cause of serious injury or
threat thereof.
Under the agreement, South Korea maintains import safeguards on 30 types
of agricultural products. But such protection measures on other agricultural
goods are not stipulated in detail.
South Korea wants the US to recognize goods made at the inter-Korean
industrial complex in North Korea as originating from South Korea. In
principle, the deal raised the possibility of giving special tariff treatment to
goods made in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex. The two sides agreed to
establish an outward processing committee on the Korean Peninsula to discuss
the matter later.
However, the deal requires goods made outside South Korea to follow
international labor standards, a measure expected to dim the prospects for
goods from the North Korean industrial complex.
At the same time, South Korea and the US agreed to immediately eliminate
tariffs on imported cars with engine displacements of less than 3,000cc. Both
sides agreed on a so-called snap-back system, which allows one of the two
sides to withdraw the tariff-elimination measure if one party keeps its
restrictions that materially affect sales, purchases and distribution.
From OEM to ODM
Large companies, including
Samsung
Electronics,
LG
Electronics and LG Philips LCD,
have decided to change their parts
purchase strategy from the original
equipment manufacturer (OEM)
method to the original design
manufacturer (ODM) method.
Samsung Electronics and LG
Electronics have decided to give the
right to supply mobile phone
modules to specific subcontractors
and the subcontractors will be in
charge of design and mobilization
of parts necessary for the
manufacture of mobile phone cases,
keypads and antennas, industry
sources said.
Along with this, Samsung
Electronics and LG Philips LCD
plan to apply such purchase
methods to back light units (BLU),
a core part of LCDs, from the latter
half of this year.
Until
recently,
Samsung
Electronics and LG Electronics
entrusted their subcontractors with
simple manufacturing businesses,
while taking responsibility of
manufacturing almost all parts,
including mobile phone cases and
exterior modules, by themselves.
Through this new method,
Samsung Electronics plans to
bolster
its
international
competitiveness like advanced
foreign companies such as Nokia, a
company spokesman said.
Hot Issue
Super Slim AMOLED
Developed
Samsung SDI said it developed the
world's thinnest 2.2-inch AMOLED,
which touts a 320 x 240 resolution
and 10,000:1 contrast ratio, a
company spokesman said.
The company plans to massproduce the 0.52-mm thin AMOLED
from the third quarter of this year.
Samsung SDI also projects to
introduce super slim mobile phones
with 5-mm in thickness, which
adopted the thinnest AMOLED from
the latter half, the spokesman said.
Widely different from LCD,
AMOLED does not require a
backlight and color filter so that it
can greatly reduce thickness, he said.
Chairbot Takes Over
After the Einstein robot the Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and
Technology has developed the Hubo
FX-1 chair bot. It is basically a chair
with legs and can carry a human
weighing upto 100 kgs. The person
sitting can control the robot easily
using the built in joystick. Each ankle
has a 3-axis force/torque sensor
which measures the normal force and
2 moments. Each foot has an
inclination sensor which measures
the angle of the slope. HUBO FX-1
is two meters in height, and weighs
150 kg. It requires external power but
in the long term KAIST aims to
make it battery powered. Future
application include carrying old and
disabled persons and moving heavy
loads. Military is also one of its
future applications may be in a
decade or so it will be running on
fuel cells with a soldier mounted on
firing rpg's and chain guns.
Converged Services
A brand new service will make a commercial debut in July in Korea. Critics say
that the new service may redesign the market hegemony in the fields of information
and communication. The designer is nothing but converged service of
communication. Converged service means mixing one service with others to make
a bundle of services. To take some examples, mobile phone service plus wireless
broadband service, and wired phone service plus Voice over Internet Protocol
(VoIP) will be available this coming July. WiBro and terrestrial digital multimedia
broadcasting can be launched in the era of convergence between telecom and
broadcasting. It will be jointly provided by the country's No. 1 broadband operator
KT Corporation and largest broadcaster KBS.
In this trend, no one can survive since converged service is firmly believed to
draw more customer attention than solo services. For the customers' side,
subscribing a bundle of service gives a benefit of price discount. Customers who
pay 10 thousand won (US$9.75) for one specific service can use two different
services at the same price thanks to converged service. Converging two or three
services can lower the original total prices. It is a kind of synergy effect.
The introduction of converged service was discussed for the first time last year
after Roh Jun-hyung, minister of information and communication, took in office.
Before his inauguration, telecom and broadband service companies had to run their
own service without crossing over the different kinds of services owing to the
regulations that prohibit the launching of converged services.
Minister Roh, however, lifted the ban to give business chances to information and
communication service providers. He had said: "It is ridiculous to keep the
regulation in this era when various kinds of communication services, mobile,
broadband, or DMB are flooding over the markets." Thus Ministry of Information
and Communication, or MIC, revised the regulation to permit communication
companies including leading ones like SK Telecom to launch converged services in
coordination with others running different business of communication.
KT, a leading broadband operator whose market share is about 50 percent, is
waiting for July. According to sources, KT plans to connect its own business with
mobile movies, TV dramas, video on demand, quizzes, games, electronic commerce,
e-banking and interactive advertising events. KT can provide all these services
through broadband, mobile networks and WiBro. For mobile service, KT can work
together with its affiliate mobile company KTF. For other services KT has signed
agreements with counterparts, for example movie producers, TVs, game companies
and banks. The giant can provide a lot of converged service for its customers.
A critic said that KT will be the most competitive company in the age of
converged service with its strong broadband network and financial background.
"The converged service will offer windows of opportunity, " Lee Sang-hoon, senior
executive vice-president of KT's business development group, said.
SK Telecom, a prominent market leader in mobile phone service, is forecasted to
link its own service with other services like DMB. SK Telecom tries to cooperate
with insurance companies. Critics say that SK Telecom's service is a hybrid one in a
sense that a mobile service meets an insurance package. SK Telecom, however, has
a limit of producing converged service because it does not have the broadband
network that KT does. This handicap sometimes provokes a speculation that it
would take over a broadband operator like Hanaro Telecom, second largest to KT.
Hanaro Telecom has already launched some converged services. It could do the
job because it is not a market-controlling company with its low market share.
Companies with 50 percent or less of market share can provide converged services.
Hanaro is offering triple services that combine broadband with hanaTV and wired
phones at a low price.
It is certain that converged services will set a new stage for every
telecommunication service companies to open a new age.
IBM to Combat Data Center
Energy Crisis
IBM project Big Green
IBM announced in May it is redirecting US$1 billion per year across its
businesses, mobilizing the company's resources to dramatically increase
the level of energy efficiency in IT. The plan includes new products and
services for IBM and its clients to sharply reduce data center energy
consumption, transforming the world's business and public technology
infrastructures into green data centers.
The savings are substantial -- for an average 25,000 square foot data
center, clients should be able to achieve 42 percent energy savings. Based
on the energy mix in the US, this savings equates to 7,439 tons of carbon
emissions saved per year.
Called Project Big Green, IBM's initiative targets corporate data centers
where energy constraints and costs can limit their ability to grow. The
initiative includes a new global green team of more than 850 energy
efficiency architects from across IBM.
Today, according to analyst firm IDC, roughly 50 cents is spent on
energy for every dollar of computer hardware. This is expected to
increase by 54 percent to 71 cents over the next four years.
"The data center energy crisis is inhibiting our clients' business growth
as they seek to access computing power," said Mike Daniels, senior vice
president, IBM Global Technology Services. "Many data centers have
now reached full capacity, limiting a firm's ability to grow and make
necessary capital investments. Today we are providing clients the IBM
action plan to make their data centers fully utilized and energy efficient."
IBM currently runs the world's largest commercial technology
infrastructure, with more than eight million square feet of data centers in
six continents. By using the same energy efficiency initiatives it is
offering clients today, IBM expects to double the computing capacity of
its data centers within the next three years without increasing power
consumption or its carbon footprint. Compared to doubling the size of its
data centers by building out new space, IBM expects this will help save
more than five billion kilowatt hours of energy per year.
Largest Monthly Exports
in Nation's History
Korea recorded the largest exports
in its history in May after posting
double-digit increase rates for 16
consecutive months.
According to data released by the
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and
Energy, last month's exports stood at
US$31.25 billion, an 11.9% gain
from last year's comparative figure.
As for imports, the figure stood at
US$29.77 billion, a 13.6% increase
from a year ago. As for trade
balance, Korea posted a surplus of
US$1.48 billion. Although the
figure shows a drop from the
previous month, it extended the
number of consecutive months of
trade surplus to fifty since April
2003.
The ministry said that the main
reason for the continued showing of
strength in exports despite the
unfavorable market conditions, such
as the rise in the value of the Korean
won and the depreciation of the
Japanese yen, can be found in the
sharp rise in the number of mainstay
export items. Aside from the
automobile exports that increased by
20% from the same period last year,
the exports of steel, LCD panels, and
machinery all rose sharply from last
year.
According to a regional tally on
the exports from May 1 to May 20,
the exports in May rose sharply
because the exports to the US at
24.9% and China at 25.9% rose at
considerably higher rates while the
exports to Japan increased at a
moderate pace.
Scenario / Cheonggyechun Ubiquitous
Information Stream
Cultural landmark of the past becomes
landmark of the future
by Chun Go-eun
[email protected]
C
heonggyechun, or Cheonggye
Stream, is a 5.8km long stream
that flows through downtown
Seoul into the Han River. This landmark
represents a dramatic change and
advance of Korean technology. It is very
strange to say that a stream has something to do with the evolution of technology in Korea, but it is true. If you look
into the history of Cheonggye Stream,
you can find out that Cheonggyechun is
not a simple stream but a symbol of evolution.
Yesterday and today
Spring is a good season to stroll along
Cheonggye Stream. According to Seoul
City Hall, thousands of people walk
down the stream every day. Even in the
early morning and late evening you can
easily see people jogging to sweat.
It has been only a year and a half that
people could take a walk along the
stream. Since Cheonggye Stream
restoration was completed in September
2005, its presence has been a welcomed
sight for weary urban residents. Today,
Cheonggye Stream is one of Seoul's
main tourist attractions.
Cheonggye Stream starts near the
Dong-a Daily Newspaper in downtown
Seoul. People can not miss Cheonggye
Plaza with its 20-meter high, snailshaped sculpture named Spring donated
by KT, a leading broadband and IPTV
provider. Claes Oldenberg's sculpture
has become a milestone for Seoulites and
tourists.
The walls along the stream's walkways are painted with colorful murals
depicting Korean history and culture.
Before the Cheonggye Stream restora-
tion was done, people could not see the
water flow because Cheonggye Stream
was covered with the asphalt road named
Cheonggy-ro, on which 3°§1 Highway
was constructed. Under the road flowed
dirty water with garbage and sewage.
Traffic was terrible every day and the US
army recommended its vehicles not to
use the road in a fear that the road would
be blown away by the gas that the dirty
water produced.
However, the dirty road and the highway was regarded as a symbol of Korean
construction technology. When Park
Jung-hee, a military general-turned president, started his modernization program
to make war-torn poor Korea become a
developing country, Cheonggye Stream
was a place where the urban poor gathered and lived in poverty. After all,
Cheonggyechun, which literally means
Sky blue Stream, became a filthy waterway and Park Jung-hee decided to cover
Cheonggyechun with asphalt.
At that time, Cheonggye Stream construction was high-tech. Adding a highway on the road was a miracle. Breaking
ground was big news for Koreans and all
high ranking government officials
including President Park joined the
opening ceremony. His cabinet members
also stood on the highway to celebrate
and herald the accomplishment and
walked down the road with President
Park.
The future
Cheonggye Stream is now experiencing another change in its nature. This
change is really different from the previous ones. Cheonggye Stream will turn
out to be an IT Stream. It is because
Seoul City Hall and a civilian IT company agreed to adopt IT to Cheonggye
Stream in order to make Cheonggye
Stream a ubiquitous stream.
If
Cheonggye Stream changes into a computerized waterway, it may be the first
one ever of its kind.
What does it mean to be a ubiquitous
stream? Samsung SDS,a developer of
the u-Cheonggye Stream Project,
explained that in a ubiquitous stream,
everything is under control by computer
system. The quantity of water that runs
in the stream and the height of it will be
managed by computer programs and systems that Samsung SDS provides.
Tourists will enjoy the ubiquitous
Cheonggye this coming September when
the implementation of the system is completed. First of all, Samsung will adapt
its u-City integrated platform named
UbiCenter to the plan. This Center
reduces the quantity of water to a certain
level when it rains heavily during the
summer season. This can be possible
because the sensor planted on the bottom
of the stream reads the amount of rain.
When the sensor reports what is happening to the Center, the Center controls the
influx of water that comes from the Han
River through the pipes under the ground
every day.
The planted sensor also checks the
quality of the water. When polluted
water flows into Cheonggye Stream, the
sensor smells it and reports it to the
Center so that the Center can prepare
next steps to prevent more pollution.
Thanks to the system, walkers of the
waterway can see fish live on the screen
that is attached to the walls. In order to
do this, Samsung will implant cameras at
the surface of water where fish often
gather. Camera will send the pictures of
fish to the screen. Lights and traffic
lights will be automatically controlled
according to the weather. When it is
gloomy the lights will be brighter and
when it is evening the colors of lights
will be romantic.
Furthermore, mobile phone users
walking down the waterway can read the
history of Cheonggye Stream, its relics,
documents about the Cheonggye Stream
restoration project and history of Seoul
by touching their mobile phone to RFID
tags. In the RFIDs implanted on the
walls of Cheonggye Stream, every
above-mentioned piece of information is
programmed. Tourist information and
road maps are also available.
Samsung said that the "u-Cheonggye
Stream will be highlight of all changes
of technology that has been adapted to
it."
Cheonggye Stream will also become a
stream in which wireless LAN and wireless broadband services including WiBro
flow. Thanks to the wireless networks,
people can turn on their laptop computers and check their e-mail at any place
around Cheonggye Stream. In this warm
season, you cannot miss young guys sitting on the walkways of Cheonggye
Stream and communicating with their
friends on computers.
Kim Young-min, a salesman, said:
"At Cheonggye Stream I often eat a hamburger set while checking e-mails that
come from my company and clients."
He explained that before a wireless LAN
system was installed around Cheonggye
Stream he always came back to his company to do so or paid 4000 won (about 4
dollars) to use Starbucks where wireless
internet services are available.
Mobile and broadband network
providers put marketing priority to
Cheonggye Stream. KT, SK Telecom
and KTF are the leading companies in
this trend. KT's Nespot is a wireless
LAN service and SK Telecom's T-login
and KTF's i-Plug are wireless broadband
services. An official who asked not to be
named said that in two years Cheonggye
Stream will be a mecca of wireless
broadband service because broadband
network providers and telecommunication companies will spend more money
on the system which has already
installed in Cheonggye Stream for better
services.
WiBro will also meet with Cheonggye
Stream. WiBro is a Korea-invented new
wireless broadband service. WiBro
enables users on vehicles running at the
speed of about 60 miles per hour to connect web sites. If you are a CEO of a
company, you can open your laptop to
check e-mails on the road to the company. KT declared that it would decorate
Cheonggye Stream with WiBro.
In all, Cheonggye Stream is not a simple stream in nature. Cheonggye Stream
is, so to speak, a stream of wireless service. There can you enjoy the flow of
water and the stream of communication.
Cheonggye's yesterday, today and
tomorrow deserves your attention and
love.
In Depth Report / Hanaro Telecom
Who Will Hold Hanaro?
by Chun Go-eun
[email protected]
A
s far as Hanaro Telecom Inc. is
concerned the phrase is absolutely
true. Rumors are circulating that
Korea's second-largest broadband and
IPTV operator Hanaro Telecom will be
bought out by an unknown third party,
despite denials by Hanaro executives.
Market analysts have speculated on a number of different firms poised to purchase the
struggling telecom company.
When analysts talk about Hanaro, the
theme is not about whether or not it will be
sold, but about when and how much. Last
week in Seoul, market analysts predicted
that the time was matured enough for
Hanaro to negotiate the amount of money
with candidates.
Some watchdogs rushed to say that the
negotiation was already underway and had
almost reached an agreement. The candidates so far are unknown. However, some
names have been put forward. According
to rumors, some foreign and domestic communication companies and hunters met
with their counterparts in Hanaro. Hanaro
strongly denied any kinds of speculation on
a merger or acquisition.
SK Telecom is said to be a strong fisherman in this market. The reason is that SK
Telecom needs Hanaro for its business
portfolio. A mobile communication service provider, SK Telecom has no wired
communication service. This is a weak
point for a company which has to fight
back in the jungle of the combined communication service era that begins in July this
year. The Combined Communication
Service Initiative is the Korean government's move to vitalize the competition in
communication services. Thanks to the initiative, a mobile communication service
provider is permitted to sell its own business service combined with other services,
for example wire communication services,
internet services and Video on Demand.
But SK Telecom denied any rumors that
it would buy the struggling Hanaro.
"Despite the rampant rumors, SK Telecom
has no intentions or plans to buy," said Lee
Kyo-hyuk, an official at SK Telecom's public relations team.
In this point of view, SK Telecom, a
leading mobile service provider in Korea,
has a strong need to purchase Hanaro.
Stock market analysts did not hesitate to
say that SK Telecom has not hidden its
intention to buy Hanaro. Perhaps SK is just
waiting until the price bottoms out.
The next candidate could be the LG
Group. As is well-known, the LG Group
has a line-up of mobile and wired communication services -- LG Telecom, LG
Dacom, and LG Powercom. If the LG
Group swallows Hanaro it can obtain 3.6
million users of the high-speed internet service and 1.8 million wired phone service
users. Critics say that Hanaro will give LG
Group a new springboard to jump on top of
the communication providers list. Even
though LG Dacom and LG Powercom are
also internet service providers, the numbers
of users are far smaller than Hanaro.
Some new candidates from abroad were
named last week, a brand new development
shaking the merger and acquisition market.
Nothing less than STT, a Singapore-based
communication service provider, has been
eyeing the Korean company. The name
leaked out in an interview with Park
Byung-mu, CEO of Hanaro, conducted by
the Korea Economic Daily, a leading economic newspaper in Korea. Park also
revealed that Hanaro chose Goldman Sachs
as a strategic adviser. Goldman Sachs will
manage the sale, citing sources privy to the
deal.
As a matter of fact, major shareholders
of Hanaro are appearing to sell their shares
at a proper price. AIG-Newbridge Capital,
the largest shareholder, is likely eager to
leave Seoul with their investment back.
They have stayed here for more than three
years because the price of their shares have
dropped rapidly and trapped them. AIGNewbridge Capital, in a consortium, invested US$1.1 billion in Hanaro Telecom to
become its largest shareholder in
September 2003. It currently holds a 39
percent share in the company.
The share price of Hanaro is up and
down around 10,000 won. Last year the
price dived to 2,000 won, the worst price in
the company's history. "If AIG-Newbridge
Capital ever decided to leave, now is the
time," said an industry watchdog.
However, only time can tell what will happen to the Korean ISP.
Virtual Reality / Second Life
Virtual Relay for Life nets US$38,000 for the American Cancer Society
An avatar can be created to
one's taste
IT Enterprises Run to Second Life
IBM and Dell establish secondary shops, change
marketing paradigm
by Chun Go-eun
[email protected]
A
t the end of the month last year,
IBM stirred the world by deciding to open up a shop in Second
Life, a virtual space which allows people
to do anything that anyone desires. Up
until recently, Second Life was basically
used as a magic wand. A fat and
unattractive woman could become a gorgeous character and a middle-class person could become one with a lot of real
estate. Even any sexual frustration and
hidden desire could also be resolved
through avatars and virtual settings.
Second Life, therefore, not only has a
positive effect, but also negative effects
to society because one's never ending
desires and greed grow quickly when
there is no set of rules and restrictions to
discipline such wishes. The idea of
Information Technology enterprises
using Second Life as marketing is rather
astonishing yet good news to increase
the quality of Second Life.
Corporate infiltration of virtual
space
IBM's participation in Second Life
was decided by its CEO Samuel J.
Palmisano who decided to create an
avatar in Second Life to interact with
customers. AMD, the well-known semiconductor company, is also starting its
advertisement through Second Life.
AMD made an exhibition hall and audience seats in Second Life. By opening
numerous conferences, training sessions,
and unofficial networks within, they
started to market their products and promote their company. Even Dell, a major
American computer hardware company
also plunged into the Second Life market. They currently own a shop in the
virtual world.
Sony who just demoed the
Playstation 3 (PS3) last November
announced that it will come up with a
service called Home that is similar to the
concept of Second Life this fall.
Through the 3D virtual world Home,
Sony desires to expand a variety of businesses.
From marketing to election
campaign
The enterprises' virtual space marketing strategy is on its hot spot. Threedimensional secondary space that is
somewhat similar to reality attracts
enterprises as another marketing space
with potential.
At the end of the year last year, CEO
Palmisano announced that IBM was
investing US$10 million to design a virtual space in Second Life. At the current
point, 3000 employees have joined
Second Life and 300 of these are keeping in touch with customers on a regular
basis. Dell established a virtual experience zone in Second Life. Cisco, the
network enterprise, built a house with
eight rooms for people to enjoy TVs and
computers. The shops these enterprises
have built in Second Life are called an
on-off line converged strategy that connects to its business in reality.
Japanese enterprises are actively participating in Second Life as well.
Japanese animation production company
DLE and TV Ashahi set a virtual movie
theater in Second Life and are now
showing many kinds of animation
movies. A used book selling corporation
named Book of Operation is also establishing a shop in Second Life using it as
an important marketing space.
Not only the Second Life is used for a
marketing purpose, it is also used as an
election campaigning purpose as well.
Hillary Clinton, a current senator of New
York who is an influential candidate for
the 2008 presidential election is putting
up posters and campaign kits on a large
signs, cars, and helicopters in Second
Life, asking for votes.
Text messages and instant
messages in Second Life
Vodafone, a global mobile communication company, provides text messaging and instant messaging services to
virtual world users. According to
Silicon.com, Vodafone will soon build
an island in Second Life and provide virtual cell phones, so that the users can
communicate within the secondary life
via SMS and IM. They are planning to
call their island Teaser and provide different communication services within
the secondary life.
Many companies like Adidas, Nissan,
Sun Microsystems, Reebok, and Yankee
Stadium already own islands in Second
Life.
Globally successful companies like
Microsoft, Coca Cola, Intel, Adidas,
IBM and Toyota joined the Second Life
as well. Sun Microsystems is preparing
a press conference regarding to the new
strategy of the gaming industry. They
already made the avatar of the CEO to
go on a press conference. America's
Linden dollars with an avatar
Wells Fargo bank made an island under
the name Stagecoach, the mascot of its
bank. Here, avatars can withdraw
Linden Dollars, the virtual money used
in Second Life. They even educate people to manage their budget. Adidas is
showing high eager in marketing its new
products.
The
British
Broadcasting
Corporation, BBC, rented an island in
Second Life. They are giving parties
and music festivals in the island. The
average age of avatars that live in this
island is 32. This is eye-opening news
for enterprises because the needs of the
thirty year old demographic affect the
market in the most influential ways. It is
better to tell what the customers' want in
Second Life than in the real life, where
people are dispersed all over in all different age groups.
Toyota is a pioneer out of all car companies in starting to build a nest in
Second Life. Toyota is selling virtual
models under the brand named Scion.
Users are customizing the cars as they
wish and selling it in the market, spreading the Scion brand. Toyota aims for it
to spread enough to impact the real market. Second life provides a perfect space
for people to experience their products.
Second Life citizens can easily figure
out how the car handles and sounds as
they test the Scion. The marketing manager of Toyota is looking for ideas to
tune the product to customer needs in
order to make the brand successful in
reality.
The cost of intriguing advertisements
in Second Life is US$200,000. This is
the cost that the designers need to create
elite virtual employees. The second life
advertisement is the new hot spot.
Sony is up
Sony announced their plan of the
Home service, a second life style game
for the PS3 at the open inventor conference in San Fransisco last March. The
Home service relates community, partnerships, and individual fit services.
The world is reaching to a Web 3.0
world. If users enjoyed games through
networks before, Web 3.0 will allow us
to use three dimensional spaces like
Home to enjoy games like they are real.
Home users will be able to control
avatars' movements with a PS3 controller. They can own their own apartment and can decorate and design the
interiors in the way that they want.
Mass media and public relations officers will soon no longer be needed to
communicate with customers. Through
Second Life, enterprises can communicate
directly with the customers, foreshadowing another revolution of marketing.
Academia / Design Forum
Adapting to Convergence
Seoul National University of Technology keeps future
trends in mind
by Matthew Weigand
[email protected]
O
n May 25, 2007, Seoul National
University of Technology held
the
2007
International
Symposium of the Korea Society of
Design Science. The title of this year's
Symposium was The Convergence of
Universal Design and Information
Technology. It lasted for two days and
included several notable speakers. The
keynote speaker was Abir Mullick,
Professor and Director of Industrial
Design of the College of Architecture of
the Georgia Institute of Technology in
the US. He is a professor of fifteen
years, teaching courses in industrial
design and architecture.
Before coming to be with Georgia Tech,
he taught at the State University of New
York, Buffalo and was a two-time recipient
of the Universal Design Education Project
grant when he was there. Professor
Mullick is nationally known for his work in
the field of universal design.
The second speaker was Yoshitsugu
Morita, Director of the Human Living
System Design Department of Kyushu
University in Japan. He is a Trustee of
the Japanese Society for the Science of
Design, and also a Trustee of the Design
Research Association. He has won several awards, including the Urban Design
Award in Japan, Grand Prize, in 1993,
for the planning and design of GinzaHarumi Dori (Avenue).
Third, Toshimitsu Sadamura,
President & CEO of GA-TAP
Corporation and part-time lecturer at
Yamaguchi University in Japan was also
in attendance. He is vice-President of the
Japan Sign Design Association, a member of the Japan Society for the Science
of Signs and member of the Asia
Townscape Design Society.
GA-TAP, Mr. Sadamura's company,
is said to be characterized by the total
design approach afforded by its multidisciplinary designers working in fields
such as architecture, graphics, products
and copywriting, and mainly engages in
environment-related and communication-related design.
The fourth speaker was Shin Sangyoung, President of LG Electronics
Corporate Design Center. Mr. Shin is
also on the Evaluation Committee for
Industrial Technology Development and
Technology Foundation Creation
Business, a Recommended Designer of
the Korean Industrial Design Exhibition,
and vice-President of the New-Vision
Course of International Design School for
Advanced Studies in Hongik University.
Before he became President, Mr. Shin
spent five years as vice-President of the
DA Design Research Lab in LG
Electronics' Corporate Design Center.
Universal design is familiar to almost
everyone, even if they do not recognize it.
When asked to define universal design,
Professor Mullick said: "A car is a very
good example of universal design. A car
is not designed for one person, but if you
sit in the car it is easy to use. That is what
we design, one thing for many people."
Looking towards the future
Seoul National University of
Technology originated in 1910, established as a vocational supplementary
school by royal decree from Emperor
Gojong. It was renamed Seoul National
University of Technology in April 1993.
The university includes six graduate
schools, thirty-two departments and four
colleges. The colleges include the
College of Engineering, College of
Humanities and Social Sciences, College
of Natural and Life Sciences and the
College of Art and Design, which hosted
the Symposium. Approximately 15,000
students attend its campus.
The university is in the process of creating new technology center that they dub
Seoul Technopolis. The new building is
currently under construction, and will
serve as a hub of industry and academic
Yoon Jin-sik, president of Seoul National University of Technology,
signs his name to a vase created by the School of Art and Design
cooperation in the area of nanotechnology, information technology, and design
science. The President of the university,
Yoon Jin-sik, is looking to bring together
those three disciplines in order to hopefully create a new, converged industry
involving all three disciplines. The president spoke about this by saying: "The
fusion between nanotechnology and
information technology is not just a trend
in Korea, but it's a global trend. So we
are not just interested in nanotechnology
and IT but also other types of convergence between IT and BT and other types
of tech." The president believes that convergence is an irreversible global trend
between many disciplines, and prepares
his university to meet such a trend. Woo
Heung-ryong, Dean of the School of Arts
and Design of Seoul National University
and the President of the Korea Society of
Design Science, spoke about President
Yoon by saying: "He is an education
reformer. Everything has been totally
changing for three years."
Universal symposium
The speakers covered a variety of topics on the first day. Abir Mullick began
the Symposium with his keynote speech
entitled Universal Design: Past, Present
and Future. He mentioned that the concept of universal design was an outcome
of the civil rights movement in the 1060s
in the US, and began with a desire to
accommodate people with disabilities.
He gave a detailed timeline of the changing views of disabled persons in the
United States from 1958 until 1982. He
then followed the concept of universal
design internationally, and cited quite a
few countries who took universal design
seriously. In the third part of his speech
he predicted future trends in universal
design. Regarding the universal design
of technology, he said: "The loss of
interest in complex technological products will popularize simple products."
"Digital technology will develop two
types of intelligent designs. The first is
combination appliances to perform dual
tasks and reduce manual work... Second,
smart designs such as intelligent fridge
pantry cars, coffee maker grinder clocks
and closet drycleaner cars that can think
and process information and maintain
non-intermittent work flow."
The second presentation was given by
Professor Morita, and was titled
Relationship Between Universal Design,
Good Design and Public Design. The
professor put forward a simple assumption by saying: "We assumed that good
design is also universal design." His presentation detailed the development of a
process to create good product design by
incorporating input from product designers, product sellers, and product users.
The key to this system was the creation
of quality charts, called Karte, that would
assess many different people's evaluation
of any product in order to create the best
Academia / Design Forum
LGE Design
LG Whisen
Consumer-oriented
Design
Leadership of universal design
development
Speakers and officials at the 2007 international Symposium of Korea Society of Design Science
available. Professor Morita said: "This evaluation of functions,
including accessibility and usability, allows quantitative evaluations
that combine physiological and psychological sensory measurements. In other words, these charts allow user evaluation for barrierfree design." However, creation of these charts was not at easy as it
first sounded. A lot of time and energy was spent in creating just the
language for the Karte charts, in order to find universal language that
anyone would use to evaluate a product. The entire presentation was
an in-depth analysis on the very idea of design. Professor Morita
closed by saying: "We will continue to conduct case studies and
advance a careful investigation of language evaluation sheets...
Furthermore, we intend to analyze the causes of the diverse user
evaluation gaps using design evaluation language, and from the
results of that analysis, build solution indices that will clarify courses
of action for resolving those gaps."
President Toshimitsu Sadamura of GA-TAP Corporation spoke next,
moving the focus of the Symposium away from the theoretical bent of
Professor Morita and onto practical applications of universal design. His
presentation, titled A Universal Design for Public Transportation,
detailed his company's application of universal design concepts in the
Fukuoka City Nanakuma Subway Line in Japan. Sadamura began by
detailing the timeline of the design project, which began in 1996 and
ended in 2005. He detailed design barriers in the construction, which
included users with limited mobility, pregnant women, children, and
people with heavy loads. His presentation detailed how his company
was able to meet and sometimes exceed these design barriers.
Finally, President Shin Sang-young spoke on the subject of
Universal Design Case Study in Value Creation of Home Appliances.
He began by saying: "With digitalization and expansion of product
functions, recent home appliances become more complex. As functionality of products is increasing, convenience and safety in using
becomes critical in product development. Even more, social responsibilities of companies and users' awareness of product usability are
increased." He spoke about LG Electronics' application of universal
design and gave numerous examples from today's marketplace, from
the eye-level display of a popular air conditioner model to differentcolored power buttons on remote controls.
INTERVIEW
The Korea IT Times was able to ask some questions to the president of Seoul National
University of Technology, Yoon Jin-sik. He spoke on a variety of subjects, from his time as a
public minister to his ideas of future global trends. ---Ed.
Q: When were you the minister?
A: From 2003 to 2004. I was at the position of Minister of
Commerce, Industry and Energy for ten months.
Q: And after that you came to this university?
A: Yes after four months I came to this university.
Q: Many people in Korea are looking for what they call the
next economic growth engine. Do you anticipate that nanoinformation-technology can be what everyone is looking for?
A: We call it the next generation growth driver. Actually I was
the one mainly responsible for coming up with that idea to begin
with. Because before becoming the president of this university I
was the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy about 3
years ago. At that time I thought we have to discover some new
growth drivers where we can allocate more resources,
government support and also get some more public interest.
Pretty much I was the one mainly responsible for coming up with
that idea.
And I kept that idea with me as I became the president of this
university. So that is why actually I decided it would be a good
idea to have the IT Technopolis so that we can pursue the new
technology and also add design elements into that as well so
that we can focus more of our capability in that area.
Q: What are your plans for Seoul Technopolis? Do you
have any plans to combine nanotechnology, information
technology, and design science?
A: We are looking to do some research in IT and
nanotechnology areas and so we're making Seoul Technopolis.
We are getting funding from the government, about 60 million
dollars.
The overarching purpose for the facility is basically to encourage
the development of nanotech IT. That's why we are attracting
many different research centers for the development of this new
technology.
As for your question about nanotechnology, IT and design, we
have some ideas at this time to combine those 3 together. We
are currently planning some curriculum in the master's and PhD
programs where we combine nanotechnology, information
technology and design together.
A
ttaching importance to
consumer-oriented design, LGE
Corporate Design Center is assuming
leadership of universal design development
which develops new technology at home.
Universal design pursues design for all
persons including the elderly, the handicapped and children. It is being spread with
a fast speed due to the influence of an
advanced age phenomenon throughout the
world. Research and development about
products and environments which include
universal design is being briskly unfolded,
says President Shin Sang-young, LGE
Corporate Design Center in an interview at
his office with The Korea IT Times. He
recently spoke at an international symposium which was held on May 25 at the
Seoul National University of Technology
under the theme Convergence of Universal
LG Dios
Design and Information
Technology.
Shin, who spoke regarding universal design development of new
technology, introduced LG
Electronics' universal design development content in the following
examples. He spoke about a slimmodel air conditioner which
included robot cleaning function, a
3 door refrigerator's refrigeration
room structure alteration technology, and an auto closing refrigerator
which applied new structure so that a door
can be closed automatically by improving
the refrigerator door's hinge.
As LG design development activity
which was converged with IT, he especially
named HomeNet which has networked and
automated all electric home appliance products of a household.
As regarding peculiar item which is in
the process of design development for LGE
Corporate Design Center, it is a Design preProposal Strategy which presents design
reflecting customer demand to the development team in advance, Shin emphasizes.
This means of course to escape from
passive features which decorate external
appearances in step with established engineers' presentation.
Such a Design pre-Proposal Strategy
aims to make hit products by allowing designer to present new product
concepts and to carry out an initiative role in product development,
according to Shin. Not only the
Chocolate Phone and Shine Phone,
but also Whisen air conditioners
which sold the most in the world are
representative examples that
attained customer value innovation
through design.
From the very first, designers at LG
Electronics lead concept development from
the stage of its product planning by garnering planning, design, business and marketing staffs to forge a team, said Shin.
The president notes that LGE Corporate
Design Center is scheduled to secure four core
capacities as the best level in the world, which
are concept, style, interface, and finishing. It
plans to concentrate its efforts on concept,
interface and invisible elements this year.
In a nutshell,
LG Electronics'
designers are
providing customers with
convenience
and
beauty LG Prada
through customer insightoriented design,
according to
Shin.
Regarding LGE Corporate Design
Center's global network on the other hand, a
foreign-based design lab was founded in
Dublin, Ireland in 1991 to achieve design
globalization. More foreign-based design
labs were subsequently founded in the cities
of New Jersey, US, in 1993; Tokyo, Japan
in 1993; Beijing, China in 1998; and Milan,
Italy in 2002 to establish an overseas network system.
Right now, the Center is under direct
control of the CEO, not any more by the
CTO, according to Shin, proving that the
LG Electronics CEO attaches his special
importance to design. After company-wide
design management declaration in June of
2006, Shin said: "Design is actively
involved not only in developing products,
but also as wide range of resources in all of
the value chains."
FEZ / MOFE
New Product
Graduating in 2009
Emotional,
Technological
Revolution
Free economic zones just starting the long haul, say experts
This is the first in a four part series on Free Economic Zones in Korea. In future issues the Korea IT Times will cover all the Free
Economic Zones in the country. Next month is Incheon Free Economic Zone -- Ed.
confirm the growth of free economic zones
through Incheon's City Expo to be held for 80
days in Songdo in the fall of 2009."
Desirable regulations
Mr. Kwon Tae-kyun, the newly inaugurated
deputy minister for the Free Economic Zone
Planning Office of the Ministry of Finance and
Economy (MOFE)
F
oreign investors will be able to see
that within the next two or three years
three bustling international cities will
be constructed in Korea's three free economic zones.
Such confidence was echoed in an exclusive interview with Mr. Kwon Tae-kyun, the
newly inaugurated deputy minister for the
Free Economic Zone Planning Office of the
Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE).
In spite of the recent negative reports
regarding free economic zones, the deputy
minister stressed, "Our free economic zones
will serve as a treasure-house to usher in a
new engine of economic growth through our
on-the-scene supervision and management of
the special zones."
The year 2009, Kwon emphasized, will be a
milestone for investors as they will witness the
rebirth of the free economic zones starting from
Incheon. In that year, many projects in Incheon
will be completed. The Incheon Grand Bridge,
he said, will fascinate visitors to Incheon when
the landmark project is completed in October
2009 along with the 65-floor Asia Trade Tower
to be completed in September 2009. "In addition," Kwon said, "the people will be able to
To forge a business-friendly environment,
Kwon said the government is committed to
do its best to lessen or eliminate regulations
and coordinate related ministries to make the
free economic zones more flexible and free.
The deputy minister notes, "A progress has
already been made to ease regulations and
accelerate the development, and administrative procedures will continuously be simplified in the months and years to come."
"Only the key concerns related to the environment, health, and security will remain to
be administered by the authorities, and truly
international cities will be built to be run by
highly efficient administrative systems,"
Kwon points out.
On concerns about the current state of the
free zone project, he said that the current
progress is at its initial stage of development
and will turn into a rapid pace as the project
gains momentum, and the project's future
prospects will be bright when the initial phase
of the project takes a concrete shape and foreign capital inflow begins in earnest. In such
an environment, he stressed, Korea has to
concentrate its efforts to build necessary infra
in a relatively short period of time.
Proximity to the huge Chinese
market
Korea's three free economic zones in
Incheon, Busan, and Kwangyang are asked to
present their visions to foreign investors more
actively on a regular basis. "Basically, what we
can provide is not the low wages of China or its
huge market, but it is Korea's proximity to
China and excellent living amenities that we are
counting on," the deputy minister explained.
In Korea, he said, intellectual property
rights are well protected and the ingenious
manpower can create good synergy combined with the world-class IT and bio techs
with a strong manufacturing base where the
world-class airport and harbor are certain to
make a difference.
To do so, Kwon added, the authorities will
closely scrutinize the current system of a
three-year exemption of corporate tax and
bring in a set of more attractive incentives in
coming years. What's more, he asserted that
the reason behind the slow pace of foreign
investment into the three free economic zones
is that foreign investors haven't yet recognized their development possibilities in the
years to come.
Continuous monitoring of FEZ
projects
Positively assessing that the recently concluded Korea-US free trade negotiations and
the upcoming 2014 Incheon Asian Games as
good momentums to boost foreign investment, he added that the government will step
up efforts to loosen the regulations with priorities given to free economic zones.
Commenting on what visions have been
brought forward to set the zones apart from
similar endeavors overseas, he predicted that
the Incheon Free Economic Zone will be nurtured into a cosmopolitan city where tourism
and IT and BT industries thrive based on a
good infrastructure befitting a transportation
hub with the world's highest-quality educational and medical services.
"When Yeosu wins its bid to host the 2012
World Expo," he continued, "Gwangyang
will also draw much interest from foreign
investors and Busan, too, will receive global
attention as it has a strong manufacturing base
linked with the textile industries to its north."
"Metaphorically speaking," he said, "the
current state of the economic zones is like an
elementary student expected to be graduated
from a university in 2015. As this is the case,
the government will continuously monitor
projects in the FEZs and keep a watchful eye
so that the current businesses do not degrade
into short-sighted pop-up businesses."
RAZR2 = Experience X
Revolution
M
otorola, unveiled the RAZR2 this
May in Korea. The RAZR2 is a
whole package of sensibility revolution with its diverse experience based on the
innovative technology Tandem Display, and
innovating designs such as clean, rigid profiles with no parting lines and vacuum metal
finishes. Expected to launch in June, Korea
will be the world's first market to receive the
RAZR2.
"With the modern style and powerful performance of RAZR2, Motorola is once again
redefining the cell phone," said Ed Zander,
Motorola's chairman and chief executive officer. "Combining groundbreaking new features and cutting-edge design, the RAZR2 is
capable of giving consumers the ultimate
mobile experience that changes all five senses."
Design Revolution: Slimmer yet
stunning
The RAZR2 is just 11.9mm thick, the
thinnest within the optimum range of not hindering usability. "Motorola focuses on finding the ideal design that delivers the best
experience to consumers," said Hwang Sunggul, Director of Motorola CXD in Seoul.
"RAZR2 also follows after sharper and more
advanced design, but did not insist on driving
to extreme thinness that could impair the convenience of users."
Also, RAZR2 increases a sleek look by
eliminating parting lines. Along with
stronger durability, RAZR2 literally looks
like one solid piece of sculpture near perfection.
In addition, RAZR2's front is finished
through Vacuum Metallization, a coating process done several times in a vacuum, which
provides a glossy face and profound dark
pearl grey color.
Performance
Revolution:
Smarter yet simpler
The most significant functional innovation
that RAZR2 has achieved is its Tandem
Display. The display which was usually
located inside is pulled out externally so that
two main displays are embodied in both sides
of the flip. When shut, existing phones turn
into an accessory or a clock, but RAZR2
plays the role of perfect device by carrying
out more than 10 functions through the
Tandem Display even when it is shut.
Besides, the external display incorporates
Motorola's breakthrough haptics technology
which provides users with vibrating feedback
in response to their finger taps, reducing the
malfunction of touch sensors and providing
physical feedback.
Moreover, RAZR2 is loaded with ultimate multimedia features such as stereo
Bluetooth wireless technology, VOD, MOD,
MP3, SKT PMP, and high-speed USB 2.0
which only takes 2 to 3 seconds to transfer a
song. It also has many useful cutting-edge
features like phone navigation, a service
which provides directions with built-in highprecision local maps, enabling users to get
help without the need of any additional kit.
RAZR2 smartly packed all these extraordinary functions in a simple, stylish manner.
Stronger yet sleeker
For more strength and durability, RAZR2
used stainless steel for internal frame. The
huge exterior lens is made with chemically
hardened glass to be more scratch resistant.
Also, Motorola tested the cast aluminum
hinge in more than 100,000 lab tests to help
ensure that every time a customer flips open
the device, it will work perfectly.
"Korea is the first to be introduced to
RAZR2, Motorola's ambitious launch product for year 2007, in June," Gill Hyun-chang,
President of Motorola Korea, stated.
"Through the overall innovation of design
and technology, the revolution of the five
senses provided by RAZR2 will satisfy what
consumers have come to expect and was
never fulfilled by any existing products."
Enviroment Day
/ MOE
Interview
Eco-Friendly Key to
Competitiveness
On the occasion of the World Environment Day on June 5, the Korea IT Times interviewed Lee Kyoo-yong, vice minister of the Environment, to
find out about the significance of the environment and its implications for the IT industry. The following is a condensed version of the answers
made by Vice Minister Lee - Ed.
T
he United Nations designated June
5 as the World Environment Day
to commemorate the Stockholm
Conference on Human Environment
which was held in Sweden in 1972 under
the topic of One Earth. The Conference
on the Human Environment is one of the
principal vehicles through which the
United Nations stimulates the worldwide
awareness of the environment, enhances
political attention, and motivates actions.
The agenda is to give a human face to
environmental issues; empower people to
become active agents of sustainable and
equitable development; promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to
changing attitudes toward environmental
issues; and advocate partnerships which
will ensure that all nations and peoples
enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.
The current topic on the environment
that has been gaining much public interest
these days is none other than climate
change. This is because the people have
not only been experiencing changes in the
weather and the ecological system but people's interest in the environment has continuously been growing around the world.
At the World Economic Forum held in
Davos this year, climate change emerged
as the core theme of the conference.
According to a survey of 500 CEOs who
participated in the forum, 38 percent of the
respondents thought that the environmental
change expected from climate change to be
the main factor that would have the most
profound effects on corporate management
in the 21st century. For instance, the EU's
new chemical regulatory system, REACH,
which stands for Registration, Evaluation
and Authorization of Chemicals, went into
force early this year and the environmental
issues in the negotiation processes of FTAs
are discussed with great importance.
Above all, the government forecasts
that the public's interest in the environmental policies aimed at raising the people's
quality of life will grow further to reflect
the changes in their interests and needs.
The task of expanding green spaces in
urban areas and the shaping of a pleasant
living environment will continue to see
their importance grow. Similarly, integrated environment management that centers on public health is important. This
includes measures to protect the environmental health of children, nursing mothers, the elderly and others who are vulnerable to environmental pollution and the
measures to safeguard the health of unpro-
Lee Kyoo-yong, vice minister of environment
tected regions. With respect to such
aspects as the utilization of the natural
environment or the supply of clean water
and the processing of wastes and sewage,
the demands for high-quality environmental services will increasingly grow.
There are a number of international
organizations concerned with environmental issues. These include the specialized agencies of the United Nations such
as the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and the United
Nations Social and Economic
Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(UNESCAP), related finance support
bodies such as the World Bank and the
Global Environment Facility (GEF), and
international cooperation organizations
such as the OECD.
In order to properly respond to the
needs for protecting the earth's environment and cope with environmental issues
in Northeast Asia, Korea maintains
active and cooperative relations with
these international bodies and plans to
further strengthen the cooperative ties in
the future too.
To begin with, Korea takes part in the
UNEP as a member of its executive committee that provides policy guidelines on
the environment at the United Nations
level and drives international cooperation.
Korea has further strengthened its environmental cooperation with the world
community by successfully hosting the 8th
Special Session of the UNEP Governing
Council and the Global Ministerial
Environment Forum in Jeju in March
2003. Moreover, the Korean government
is set to actively support the UNEP that
intends to carry out 16 trial projects to
improve the environment in North Korea.
The UNEP disclosed its intention to pursue the projects following the report on
North Korea's state of the environment
jointly issued by the UNEP, the UNDP,
and North Korea in August 2004.
In 2005, the Seoul Initiative on Green
Growth was adopted at the fifth
UNESCAP Ministerial Conference on
Environment and Development. Since
then, follow-up projects such as policy
forums and environmental training programs have been operated every year.
With respect to the World Bank, a
capital financing and technology support
agency for the advancement of developing countries, we have been involved
since 2002 in the Knowledge Partnership
that transmits our experience of
advanced environment policy to developing countries such as China and Vietnam.
In addition, the government contributes about 1.5 million dollars every
year to the GEF to assist its investment in
the fields of environment and technology
development in developing countries.
Moreover, we plan to increase the contribution money gradually.
As an OECD member, Korea actively
takes part in the environment related
activities of the OECD, which plays a
leading role in environment related initiatives through the information sharing
among member states, policy development, and the evaluation of member
states with regard to their performance in
protecting the environment.
Korea has been participating and contributing in the discussions on policy
issues of various committees of the
OECD, and has been selected this year to
vice chair the Environment Policy
Committee (EPOC) of the OECD. While
Korea has been dispatching experts in the
evaluation of the environment performances of OECD member states on one
hand, it has also received environmental
performance evaluation this year following last year's. In 2006, the OECD gave
Korea the high mark of a striking
progress for its achievement made in
improving the environment.
In the meantime, Korea has been hosting operational meetings and expert
workshops of the OECD and seized them
as opportunities to develop Korea's environmental policies and institutions.
Apart from these, Korea has prepared a
cooperative master plan in 2005 to prevent
the sand dust emanating from China with
China, Japan, Mongolia, the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) and the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
At this year's World Economic Forum
in Davos, a total of 23 major global risks
were presented. The forum made a forecast that it anticipates such environmental
risks as tropical storms, earthquakes, and
floods along with water shortage due to
unforeseen phenomena of the nature.
What this signifies is that the environment is an important element that determines the fate of a society and economy.
In case any nation fails to manage environmental risks properly, however, it will
incur enormous social and economic losses, whereas proper forecasts and preparations will bring opportunities.
When we look at the recent trends of
the world, such as those concerning climate change and the EU's new chemicals
regulations, the intensity of regulations
has steadily grown to be more stringent
for not only the earth's environment but
also for the regional and domestic environment. If we do not tackle this issue
without fully taking notice of such
trends, the development of a country or
an enterprise becomes a far-fetched idea.
In the event that one fails to wisely
cope with environmental risks and
international regulations on the environment, it may lose not only competitiveness but also another opportunity to
grow. Globally renowned corporations
such as General Electric, IBM and Sony
are reinforcing environmental management and investments, saying that the
environment is the growth engine of the
future. As Korea is no exception to this
trend, large corporations including
Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor
Company and SK, are turning their eyes
to environmental projects after declaring
to follow environmental management.
In conclusion, we must actively deal
with environmental issues by realizing that
the environment is not only a core element
in raising the competitiveness of a country
or a company but a question of our survival.
Enviroment Day
/ ENVICO
President Ko Jae-young, Korea
Environment and Resources
Corporation
On-the-spot photos by stages
Environmental Technology
Frontrunner
B
y grafting IT technology onto environment
disposal,
Korea
Environment and Resources
Corporation is bearing a part in making
Korea into an environment power.
The Electronic Waste Manifest System
and an RFID-based infectious waste management system are such representative cases,
according to president Ko Jae-young, Korea
Environment and Resources Corporation in
an exclusive interview conducted by the
Korea IT Times on the occasion of the
Environment Day on June 5th this year.
In a nutshell, the electronic information
system computerizes the whole process of
waste disposal from generation through
transportation to final disposal on the website www.wm-s-net.or.kr.
ENVICO has operated the system since
2002 and extended the application to all
35,000 waste dischargers by 2005, according to Ko. "In order to develop the system
into a comprehensive waste information
system, we are now adding more systems
such as the online system that deals with
civil applications for waste permission, and
a statistical analysis system that analyzes
the generation and treatment status of
wastes real time," he said.
Regarding operation of this Electronic
Waste Manifest System, the environment
veteran president said: "As over 85% of
designation waste including infectious
waste are properly managed through this
system, the Corporation came to be able to
secure scientific waste statistics material."
When all of ENVICO's nationwide
branches use this Electronic Waste
Manifest System, he
expected that this will
contribute to administration expense reduction and administration
affairs simplification to
the tune of 120 billion
won (US$130 million)
worth of administration
cost reduction and 9.8
million hours reduction.
Ko was proud of the
fact that ENVICO is
propelling oversea technology transfer of this
Electronic
Waste
2nd International Exhibition Fair on
Environmental technology in Vietnam
Manifest System to Vietnam by saying that
the Corporation supports demo program
development and system operation, technology special manpower nurturing education, system hardware and software construction as per the Korea-Vietnam memorandum of understanding concluded on
December 13, 2006.
Besides, the Corporation is scheduled to
enlarge information exchange during the
period from May through July this year
with Japan Environment Ministry/Industrial
Waste Disposal Promotion Center in connection with the Electronic Waste Manifest
System, according to Ko.
RFID-based system
What's more, it deserves attention that
ENVICO has established an RFID-based
infectious waste management system by
firstly applying the RFID, an advanced
Radio Frequency Identification technology,
to waste management.
Through the test operation in 2005, it
was now extended to be used in about
50,000 hospitals as of 2006.
Ko praised that ENVICO's RFID-based
infectious waste management system is
being posted as the most successful example
among Korea's Ministry of Information and
Communication (MIC) RFID pilot projects.
Regarding RFID application effects, the
president explained: "First of all, it overcomes real-time input boundary by enabling
an exact data confirmation through real-
time transmission and reception by excluding wrong input possibility by means of
electronic tags."
RFID application improves affairs processes and efficiency among others through
automation which has been attained by
hand work.
Moreover, it enables management supervision efficiency by allowing the entire hospital's waste disposal flow to grasp exactly
through data's real-time abstraction which
holds illegal connection possibility.
In connection with ENVICO's RFIDbased infectious waste management system,
Ko assessed: "The Corporation has prepared technological and institutional
groundwork so that ENVICO can create a
new business model to facilitate environment field IT application, thereby allowing
to expand/apply to RFID/USN development stage."
In a word, he epitomized that infectious
waste's transparent management realization
was enabled by means of this RFID-based
infectious waste management system,
adding that previous check plan for waste
management was enabled with infectious
waste policy's confidence improvement and
waste disposal's transparency.
tag issuance/adhesion stage
carrier acceptance stage
custody storehouse
warehousing stage
handler vehicle
warehousing stage
ment by carrying out businesses for repressing waste generation, recycling and proper
disposal, Ko emphasized: "The Corporation
has converted anew with policy support
function-oriented, which constructs circulation-model resource management system
and ushers recycling policy through
Extended Producer Responsibility institution operation, Electronic Waste Manifest
System, and funding for recycling industry."
Extended Producer Responsibility means
that the producer bears a degree of responsibility for the products to the end of their useful life by being imposed a mandatory recycling amount on the products and paying
Synergy effect of grafting IT tech- recycling dues on the unfulfilled amounts.
The responsibilities of the producer have
nology
mainly been limited to developing environmentally responsible products; but the new
Touching upon the fact that ENVICO EPR system requires the producer to
has been contributing to environment
assume a broader range of responsibility for
preservation and recycling industry develop- the post-consumer stage, Ko said.
With regard to
its funding for the
recycling industry,
ENVICO has been
endeavoring to
prevent the waste
of resources since
1994
through
actively promoting
waste recycling
programs that lead
to the establishment of a sustainable resource recycling society, by
President Ko (front) makes an inspection of confiscated goods
discharger delivery stage
handler incineration stage
providing low interest loans to domestic
recycling businesses.
From the year 2007, ENVICO's affairs
become even more specialized and subdivided, according to Ko. Thus, the
Corporation is carrying out businesses to
utilize confiscated goods as resources by
teaming up with a police office in Seoul
area and the Ministry of Culture and
Tourism for example.
Urgent environment power construction
In relation to his management philosophy, Ko stressed: "Corporations under the
influence of the government must make
efforts from now on for their management
rationalization and profit creation rather
than remaining at a merely public undertaking any more."
According to such strategy, ENVICO is
pursuing projects to create new profit structure aggressively including waste disposal
facility installation inspection diagnosis
affairs, collection business for disposing
useless transformers safely and the
Corporation's 2010 vision in the long run,
according to Ko.
In the light of the fact that the 21st century is the era of environment, the environment-veteran concluded: "Korea too must
become an environment power globally to
afford environment brand to be able to present to the world."
Policy Direction / Korea Post
Jung Kyung-won, president of Korea Post
"I believe that a person's personality and
work ethic comes from the basics. And a
firm base will hold us tight and give us the
strength through any difficult time.
Therefore, my personal business philosophy
is back to basics," said the newly-inaugurated fourth President of the Korea Post Jung
Kyung-won. Through an interview with the
Korea IT Times, President Jung added more
of his business philosophy. "The customers
are always right. I will always keep that in
mind as I run the Korea Post. When we
work up to build a firm base and use our creativity, the capability of the organization will
increase, the image will be strengthened and
the service quality will also increase to win
our customers' hearts and keep them at
home. The Korea Post is called Oo Jung in
Korean. Oo Jung in Korean also means
friendship. Oo Jung, the Korea Post will
work to build friendship."
Jung has shown his devotion to the
Ministry of Information and Communication
since 1979, from the first day he started to
serve the government. From his contribution
in broadband convergence networking to
establishing a hub in Daejeon Exchange
Center to monitor the flow of mail parcels in
real time through CCTV and many other
numerous accomplishments in the time
between, he has never stopped to contribute
to the growth of the Korean IT industry.
Since the president was one of the first to
adopt an automatic information system in
traditional postal service days, a change from
analog to digital, the question followed to his
newest accomplishment hub. He explained:
"The Korea Post recently established a
Central Management System on top of our
newest achievement hub. Using IT technology at the hub in Daejeon Exchange Center,
the Hub was designed to efficiently distribute
mail. The Hub allows us to monitor mail in
real-time and tracks the postal delivery flow
all over the country using CCTV channels
set up in every state and GPS GIS sets on
every postal service car to insure efficient
delivery. As time has become gold for modern people, I believe that fast postal travel is
our priority to focus on," he continued. "The
Overall Postal Central Management System
allows the customers to check eight step
delivery states via a website or call centers.
We monitor each step of the delivery through
the system and send text messages to our
customers informing them of the delivery
state, he said. "In order to assist a faster
delivery service, we provided PDAs to our
mailmen, which saved us an hour at least
compared to prior deliveries," he Jung
explained.
All the effort towards fast delivery service seems to pay off. The Korea Post,
which met a deficit in 2003, is now working
in a Golden Age since 2006. The profit
from parcels increased by 22% compared to
last year. Promotion of the Express Mail
Service (EMS) and building up a descent
business relationship with foreign post
offices contributed to this result as well.
Jung's goal for 2007 is to take it a step
further and focus on Korea Post IT exports.
"We are about to start target marketing to
postal IT exportable countries who have
great potential. We will strengthen partnerships and promote advertisements. We are
trying to get support from the government to
have PostNet, the system we use to distribute parcels, reach overseas." At the current date, Korea Post contributes to one third
of the county's export property. The
President's ambition is for Postal IT to contribute more in exports this year. "In order
to meet our goal in exporting, Korea Post
recently established an Export Managing
Department to support Memorandums of
Understanding between the countries, provide consulting for foreign postal modernizing, and promote the Korea Post overseas by
attending Post Expos and international conferences." As matter of fact, the Korea Post
will sign a MOU with Vietnam this month.
He noted: "The purpose of this visit to
Vietnam is to exchange thoughts on developing both countries' postal services, sharing
postal experts, and exchanging postal business experiences. This MOU will eventually give Korean IT enterprise an opportunity
to enter Vietnam."
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Korea IT systems are also being wanted
by some countries like Indonesia,
Kazakhstan, and Malaysia. They are in partnership with Korea Post as well in recent
years. Moreover, countries like Egypt,
Algeria, Mongolia, Brunei, and Pakistan
have visited Korea for benchmarking.
The Korea Post started a new management technique called 6 Sigma from August
2003. Until 2006, 554 tasks were improved
and led to gain US$75 million. And we
have trained 538 experts who are specialized
in 6 Sigma. They are working as a reform
leader at this point. The Korea Post has been
continuously developing 6 Sigma over the
long term, building management systems to
manage its work in efficiency. Also, the
organization is giving out training and early
education to expand the reform culture.
Jung further noted: "As a result, the Korea
Post had won the 2006 6 Sigma Award over
all the private enterprises. Korean Industrial
Property, Supreme Public Prosecutor's
Office, and Kyonggi Province already
showed their high interest in post 6 Sigma
and developed into benchmarking." The
president added: "In 2005, we started
Maintenance, Repair, and Operation (MRO)
as a pioneer in government office and
reduced the 7 to 14 day delivery to 2 to 4 days
in the marketplace. That saved US$700,000
for the Korea Post. We even lowered the
morning express delivery rate to 95.2%, still
saving US$1.1 million by improving the
express mail working process."
The Post Office Insurance is expected to
be weakened due to Free Trade Agreement
Korea recently built with America.
President Jung expects "the continual
growth of financial institutions and its subsi-
dization." As the competition is expected to
be tough, Mr. Jung prepared: "This year, we
established one hundred eighty-two 365
Automatic Service Corners and forty-six
customer service rooms to provide convenience to users. We are planning to find the
villages in the countryside of Korea that still
has no easy access to financial institutes to
provide services to them. We will also train
financial experts on a regular basis to
strengthen the business range. As far as our
insurance business is concerned, we will
come up with common interest items like
donation insurance or funeral insurance. In
2007, we will focus on training our elite
employees to strengthen marketing and to
come up with creative items that the citizens
need."
Having Back to the Basics as his business philosophy and Consider Others as his
motto, the president is credited as a true
businessman with a human touch. Jung stated: "It is the Korea Post's duty to provide
affordable postal services with the best quality service that is available anywhere at anytime." "Korea has the best information technology that would be competitive anywhere.
By applying such information technology
into postal services, we are seeking to build
a ubiquitous post office in the future,"
President Jung Kyung-won marked as a
conclusion.
"Until the day our post offices take a big
part in serving the citizens as blood vessels
in our body that connects every little organ,
our undying effort will continue."
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Information Culture Month
Interview with KADO
Series of
Fortunate Events
Yesterday and Today
by Chun Go-eun
[email protected]
T
he Information Culture Month has
reached its twentieth birthday and
has contributed a big role to our
country's information development. At this
twentieth anniversary month, 75 different
events will be held in 42 different places
under the theme Unification of Hopeful
Korea in Digital. Some of the events will
include Information and Communication
Yesterday and Today which is the
Information and Communication Historical
Documents Exhibition, Month of
Information and Culture Opening
Ceremony,
Information
Culture
Conference and Informative World for the
disabled and elders.
Yesterday and Today especially is the starting event of the Information and Culture
Month that looks back at the last twenty
years of information that has been impacting
in our lives and society that provides variety
of things to see. Anyone who is interested
may participate in this particular event.
Information and Communication Yesterday
and Today started on June 1, 10:30 in the
morning in front of the Ministry of
Information and Communication and will
continue until June 20.
The
Information
and
Communication Yesterday and Today
event will provide variety of things to
take a look at and experience. There
will be new technology testing zones,
event zones, and 12 scenes and chronicles, historical document bequest
zone, and a policy publicity zone. The
historical document bequest zone will
display the CDMA and the electronic
telephone exchanger. In a video zone,
there are 5 animations regarding stories based on history and the 21 selected
information and communication from
DaeHan News that used to be shown as
previews before the movies started in the
theaters up to 1994. The twelve scenes of
Information and Communication, in particular, is the zone where visitors can see the
evolution of our information and communication history at a glance. This zone will
be very educational to teenagers because
the displays connect a modern broadcast
communication technology to our history
in the past. At the event or experience
zone, visitors can experience Morse Code
and make stamps in the way they want.
The new technology experience zone has
IPTV, WiBro, home network and 3.5G
video phones.
In the same building complex,
Ubiquitous Dream Hall and KT Art Hall's
daily musical performance is going on an
everyday basis, so whoever visits the
Yesterday and Today will have more than
the event itself to be entertained. The
Ministry
of
Information
and
Communication expects citizens to participate in events and be informed to the new
technology and cover what has taken part
in Korean IT history.
Son Yeon-gi, president and CEO of KADO
T
he Month of Information Culture
was established in 1988 to commemorate the introduction of the
computer to Korea in 1967 and the successful completion of nationwide telephone
automation in 1987. It has been held as an
occasion to spread sound information culture and invigorate the productive utilization of information.
Various events are organized to offer
opportunities to the public to look back at
the footprints of computerization, including
the development history of the information
and communication industry and the social
and cultural changes that arose from
Korea's transition toward a more computerized society based on information.
In addition to the commemorative ceremony scheduled for June 7 at the COEX
Auditorium, a series of events are scheduled nationwide. The events start with the
Week of Participation and Sharing which is
from June 1 to 10, The Promotion of
Information Utilization from June 11 to 20
and The Sound Use of the Internet from
June 21 to 30. The events include various
volunteer activities to be held jointly by the
government and civil organizations, an
information gala for the handicapped and
conferences on information culture.
"These commemorative events," says
Son Yeon-gi, president and CEO of the
Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity &
Promotion (KADO), "will offer us good
opportunities to look at the influences of
the informationalization of Korean society
and form a social consensus on the visions
for a desirable information culture in the
ubiquitous world."
Son said KADO will strengthen the
rights of the underprivileged to facilitate
their easy access to information and actively respond to new gaps.
"Firstly," Son continued, "we will fortify the web access of the public sector and
embark on the TRS [trunked radio system]
service in earnest so that we can innovatively improve the IT accessibility for the
disabled and the elderly. Also, we will
expand the supply of IT devices to
strengthen the foundation where the weak
can better access information. At the same
time, we will support the development of
IT devices that fit the special needs of the
handicapped.
"Secondly, through the practical education of the underprivileged, we have continuously been alleviating the information
utilization gap and have strived to promote
the productive utilization of information.
For this, we will educate about 5 million
underprivileged people by the year 2010
and expand it for the new brackets of the
weak, including the handicapped, the poor
and the elderly, farmers and fishermen,
escapees from North Korea and migrant
workers."
"Thirdly, through the policies on solving
the information gap, we have been actively
involved in finding solutions to the pending
social problems, including economic bipolarization, ageing, etc. Among others, we
plan to provide specialized education to
young people and create jobs for the elderly.
"Lastly, we plan to strengthen Korea's
global leadership in the IT field by continuously solving the information gap among
countries," Son explained.
To this end, KADO is newly carrying
out special projects to dispatch IT Special
Advisory Teams to provide cooperative
assistance in the IT field to Vietnam and
Indonesia for a period of three to four
months starting next month.
The invitational training of overseas IT
experts and corporate leaders for transmitting Korea's information system model
started in 1998. Until 2006, it discharged
2,102 recipients of the education from 99
countries. And this year, the education will
be offered to 292 persons.
Since 2002, KADO has constructed a
total of 10 information centers of the Koreantype IT infrastructure in developing countries, building two every year. Especially
from this year onwards, KADO plans to
build three information centers every year.
In terms of dispatching youth service
teams for the promulgation of the Internet
overseas, KADO has dispatched a total of
1,650 young men and women of IT talent
to 57 countries since 2001 until last year.
This year, KADO plans to dispatch 320
persons.
On May 16, the United Nations'
International Telecommunication Union
(ITU) announced that Korea ranked top in
the digital opportunity indices of 181 countries in the world and placed Korea at the
top for three consecutive years.
Open Korea
Asian Games to Mark
Incheon as One of
World's Top 10 Cities
by Lee Kyung-min
[email protected]
W
ith the hosting of the 2014
Asian Games, Incheon will
enter the list of the world's top
10 cities, An Sang-soo, mayor of the
Incheon Metropolitan City, said.
The hosting of the international sports
games will provide Incheon with a good
chance to develop into a world class city, An
said in an interview with the Korea IT Times.
"The Asian Games is expected to bring
about 13 trillion won in economic income
[US$14 billion], 5.6 trillion won [US$6 billion] in effects on value added inducement
and 270,000 persons in effects on employment inducement," said the city mayor.
"The more important fact is that we will
nearly complete the Incheon Free Economic
Zone Development Project centering on
Songdo international city in 2014.
Accordingly, the international publicity effect
of Incheon stemming from the hosting of the
2014 Asian Games will be great," he said.
"For instance, huge amounts of overseas
capital will flow into Incheon, the interna-
INTERVIEW
The following are excerpts from an interview with
An Sang-soo, mayor of the Incheon Metropolitan City.
Q: Incheon City succeeded in attracting the 2014 Asian
Games successfully. For successful hosting of the international event, Incheon should secure enough top-class stadiums and accommodating facilities. Would you introduce
the Incheon city's plan?
An Sang-soo, mayor of the
Incheon Metropolitan City
tional brand value of Incheon will go up
higher in keeping with the globalization era,
and Incheon will build its image as a futureoriented new city equipped with the hub airport of Northeast Asia," said An.
Asked about the most important tasks
Incheon has to do to become a hub of
Northeast Asia, the mayor said: "As
Incheon is adjacent to Seoul, citizens'
degree of desire for living conditions,
including education, culture and residential
environment in Incheon is higher than other
cities. However, the degree of citizens' satisfaction is very low.
"Accordingly, we are striving to come
out with systematic measures to improve
living conditions and satisfy citizens' rising
demands," he said.
Meanwhile, the opening of Incheon
International Airport, rapid emergence of
China on the international stage, active development of the western area and emergence of
knowledge-based economic system have
been enhancing the importance of Incheon.
Incheon Stadium
On the blueprint
of the Incheon Free
Economic Zone, the
mayor said that it is
the national project to
build a top-class business city in Northeast
Asia by 2020.
Noting that three
districts -- Songdo, Yeongjong and
Cheongna -- will be intensively developed in
the Incheon Free Economic Zone, he said:
"We aim to develop the IFEZ into the best
business center city of Northeast Asia by creating most attractive business environment
and living conditions."
The Songdo district on a land of 16 million pyeong (52.8 million m2) will be developed into advanced industrial city housing, a
convention center, the Asia Trade Center, a
foreign hospital and a luxurious hotel.
The Yeongjong district on a land of 41
million pyeong (135.3 million m2) will be fostered as the core base of aviation and logistics.
And the Cheongna district on a land of 5.3
million pyeong (17.4 million m2) will be
developed into an international tourism and
leisure estate housing an Asian village, a
theme park, a golf course and an R&D center.
"In 2002 when the economic zone development project is finished, Incheon will
enjoy 53.4 trillion won [US$57.6 billion] in
production inducement amount, 22.4 trillion won [US$24.2 billion] in value added
inducement amount and 130,000 new jobs,
playing a key role as a top-class economyoriented city in Northeast Asia," he said.
As for the present achievements and
problems facing the development of the
Incheon Free Economic Zone, An said:
"The Songdo district will be developed into
an advanced industrial city centering on
international business, IT and BT. For example, we are now
constructing an international business estate, a knowledge
information industry estate, an advanced bio estate and a residential estate."
"In particular, in the international business estate, we are
constructing a convention center for completion in April, 2008,
the Songdo international school for opening in September
2008, and the 65-floor Asia Trade Center for completion in
2010," said the mayor.
"We started the construction of Incheon Bridge connecting
the Songdo district and the Yeongjong district in June 2005 and
finished 39 percent of the whole process, aiming to complete
the project in October 2009," he explained.
Incheon Bridge to be built through an advanced construction method of AMEK of Britain and Samsung is expected to
greatly contribute to attracting foreign investment in the
Incheon Free Economic Zone, while improving access of users
of Incheon and the metropolitan area to the Incheon
International Airport.
The Yeongjong district is being developed into a core base
of international tourism, aviation logistics and industry.
Related to this, it received due approval for construction of the
Unbuk Complex Leisure Estate on an 830,000 pyeong (2.73
million m2) plot of land in August 2005 and the Yongyu, Muui
Tourism Estate on a 2.13 million pyeong (6.39 million m2) plot
in September 2006.
Meanwhile, the Cheongna district will be developed into an
international financing and leisure estate consisting of financial &
leisure estate, floricultural estate and GM Daewoo R&D Center.
The construction work for the GM Daewoo R&D Center,
which started in September 2005, will be completed in 2012.
As for the difficulties facing the Incheon Free Economic
Zone Development Project, An pointed out easing of regulations, including the laws regulating the metropolitan area,
financial assistance and system reform.
"To compete with neighboring cities such as Hong Kong,
Singapore, Pudong, Shanghai and Dubai, we should push for
efficiency-centered theory such as selection and concentration,
away from the theory of equality for balanced regional development. At the same time, we keenly need institutional supports for free economic zone," said the mayor.
A: First of all, we will use Munhak Stadium where the 2002
World Cup finals were held as the main stadium for the 2014
Asian Games.
In addition, we will build comprehensive sports facilities
suitable for each sports item in six places.
By using 980,000 pyeong [3.23 million m2] of reclaimed
land in the metropolitan area, we will build a Dream Park
equipped with a horse riding stadium, a boat race stadium, a
shooting range and a water polo stadium.
To host the Asian games, a total of 4.9 trillion won [US$5.3
billion] will be needed. Accordingly, we will spend 1.6 trillion
won [US$1.73 billion] from the state coffer, 2.6 trillion won
[US$2.8 billion] from the city coffer, and the remaining 700
billion won [US$755 million] from private investment.
Q: For successful hosting of the 2014 Asian Games, what
would you request of the Korean people, including
Incheon citizens?
A: To hold the international event successfully, the central
government's active assistance is indispensable and a number
of investors should participate in the construction sector.
I think Incheon can host the Asian Games successfully only
when citizens actively participate in the event with passion and
sacrifice.
Once again, I sincerely request citizens' help under the belief
that the successful hosting of the 2014 Asian Games is a shortcut for Incheon to become a top-class international city.
Q: Would you comment on the status of introduction of
foreign capital in the Incheon Free Economic Zone?
A: Despite difficulties in attracting foreign investment,
the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) has so far attracted
a total of US$28.8 billion in foreign investment in 25 cases.
Of the total, IFEZ concluded main contracts worth US$16
billion in 15 cases, including those concerning Gale,
Celltrion, Incheon Bridge, Logistics (Schenker), GM
Daewoo, Cheongna Theme Park Golf Course and robot
assembly (Gudel AG).
It also signed MOU worth US$12.8 billion in 10 cases,
including those concerning an international school, logistics
center AMB and Yonsei University.
INTERVIEW
Preview Event / Jeju
United Cities, Local Governments
World Congress in Jeju
By Lee Kyong-hwan
[email protected]
ernments in new global governance.
can be boosted with positive social and cultural effects. I have high expectations that it
will prove to be an opportunity to rev up the
convention industry in a region renowned
for natural beauty."
"More than that," continued Governor
Kim, "Jeju is an ideal place for discussing
such important issues as peace, poverty,
inequality, and cultural diversity. And we
are prepared to make contributions to raising
the quality of life of not only our citizens but
also the people of the whole world."
United cities, local governments
Kim Tae-hwan, governor of the Special
Self-Governing Province of Jeju
T
he 2nd United Cities and Local
Governments (UCLG) World
Congress will be held in Jeju Island
from October 28 until October 31 this year
at the International Convention Center Jeju
(ICC Jeju).
In the UCLG World Congress, about
2,000 representatives of local governments
around the world will attend the meeting to
share ideas in several local government
issues such as politics, society, economy
and culture. Civilian partners such as
NGOs and associations will also be seeking
close cooperation for the effective running
of local governments.
Holding the UCLG World Congress in
the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province is
expected to shed new light on the meaning
of local self-governance and prove to be a
big opportunity to promote Jeju.
Kim Tae-hwan, governor of the Special
Self-Governing Province of Jeju, noted:
"Through this event, the regional economy
UCLG is an organization that promotes
shared benefits and ideals through the democratization of and cooperation among local
governments, seeking to form an international community based on this foundation.
The objectives of UCLG include the following: the strengthening of democratic
local governments; cooperation and union;
playing the role of a political spokesperson
for local governments worldwide; playing
the role as a major information center for
local governments; the bolstering of the
self-governance of local governments and
national councils; racial and sexual equality; the reinforcing of the diversity of the rule
by local governments; and the strengthening the cooperation for decentralization,
international cooperation, and partnerships
between local governments.
With its headquarters in Barcelona,
Spain, UCLG currently is comprised of
over 1,000 cities in 127 countries as members. Together with the United Nations,
UCLG has been playing a leading role in
relation to the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations.
Cities Are Driving Our World. The theme
of the congress selected by the UCLG
World Council emphasizes the diversity of
local governments and their important roles.
"The main theme expresses well the current
situation in which the role of local governments in bringing about the necessary
changes for the prosperity of the whole
world is more important than at any other
time," said Jeju Governor Kim. The main
theme deals with practical topics for solving
common problems in detail. The topics are
as follows: Cities the future of humanity:
addressing climate change; City Diplomacy:
Local governments building peace; and
2015: A better world is possible Local gov-
Changing cities are driving our
world
The main theme of the 2nd UCLG
World Congress, Jeju 2007 is Changing
Jeju scenery
Fourteen workshop topics
The congress has 14 workshop topics.
The congress will share practical and concrete issues that each local government can
confront, including the decentralization of
power, multiculturalism, the environment,
and their solutions. It aims to materialize
the local self-government that is democratic
and peaceful and that makes the locality a
good place to live in. The 14 workshop topics are as follows:
1. A world closer to its citizens: progress
in decentralization and local democracy in the 21st century
2. Towards 2015: local government's
plan to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals
3. Financing urban explosion: local
authorities' vision
4. Local democracy, participative
democracy: the key to social inclusion
5. Culture within multicultural cities Agenda 21 for culture
6. New technologies changing our lives
and changing local governments
7. Metropolitan challenges: competitiveness and cooperation, performance
and quality of life, center and suburbs
8. Access to basic services for all: Dream
or reality?
9. Association capacity building for good
local governance: Achievements and
perspectives
10. The cities of tomorrow: New ecological cities, digital cities, museum
cities, widespread cities, compact
cities, secure cities
11. Urban mobility: Adapting to the new
ways of life
12. Biodiversity, climate change, environment protection: sustainable cities
where people and nature coexist
13. International expositions, Olympic
Games, mega festivals: Cities for
worldwide recognition
14. Local governance facing pandemics
Too many people moving to cities
Jeju Governor Kim stated: "In the 2nd
UCLG World Congress, UCLG will discuss diverse issues on responding to the too
many people moving to cities. Right now,
we are directly confronting an enormous
challenging task. In order to solve such a
problem that is common to mankind, the
international community must pay attention
to the powerful potentials and exemplary
achievements of local governments. For
this, the members and partners of UCLG
gathering in Jeju must exert great efforts
with professional knowledge, experience
and passion."
The beautiful city with high
quality of life
Ahead of the UCLG World Congress,
Governor Kim Tae-hwan prepared a message to be delivered to the participants of
the world congress. His message includes
important points, outlined here.
The value of the natural environment of
Jeju is recognized to have much higher
value than it seems. Having already designated as a life preservation region by
UNESCO, Jeju is expected to be named a
natural heritage this year thanks to its
unique natural environment and geological
features. Furthermore, Jeju City has been
selected as a city of good health by the
World Health Organization (WHO). All in
all, the city is reputed to be the beautiful city
where a high quality of life can be enjoyed.
In terms of self-governance, Jeju Province
has been improving the living conditions by
strengthening its education, including the
establishment of an English only town. The
number of countries' citizens that can visit
Jeju without a visa has been expanding, and
the number of foreign tourists has been
increasing. The tourism industry, too, has
Governor Kim tends his trees
seen its industrial infrastructure and contents
differentiated. Many kinds of tourism-related
rights have been applied to fit the actual circumstances of the Jeju region. The basis for
medical tourism, a newly rising industry, has
been laid down and the health and medical
treatment development plan has been formulated. In addition, major policies, including
those related to public medical treatment,
have been reinforced.
Agriculture, livestock, and fisheries have
been fostered, and the living conditions
have been improved. Moreover, the basis
for managing the clean environment and
underground water has been prepared.
Lastly, with its special brand and incentives,
Jeju has been attracting the attention from
home and abroad especially because of its
differentiated system and its being a model
of successful self-government and decentralization of power.
As a self-governing province that maintains cooperative ties with 18 regions in 11
countries, Jeju has been endeavoring to
form a truly international free city, in which
people, products, and capital move freely.
Industrial survival strategy
The 2007 IT 21 Conference's main
theme is Industrial Survival Strategy for
Next
Generation
Information
Technology. Such a theme is to maximize corporate competitiveness improvement through discussion regarding mutual exchange and opinion interchange of
information technology development
direction along with new information
technology's dissemination which is
being deemed to be an important part of a
survival strategy for corporations,
explained professor Kim Byung-ki.
Enabling Fusion of
Technology,
Digital Convergence
T
his year's IT 21 Conference will
be the most substantial conference, according to professors
responsible for this conference's comprehensive proceeding.
In hopes of illuminating the mega
trends of IT technology in the 21st century and securing national IT technology
and industrial competitiveness, the Korea
Information Processing Society (KIPS)
has been holding the yearly IT 21
Conference as a ground in which opinions from the industrial world, the academic world, the research world, and
governmental circles can be garnered.
For the remaining period till the
Conference, Professor Kim Byung-Ki of
the Department of Computer and
Information Science at Chonnam
National University who serves concurrently as KIPS chairman, said: "For the
purpose of its publicity maximization,
the Society will unfold the Conference
introduction activity and publicity
through KIPS homepage, KIPS member
mail and through sending pamphlets to
information and telecommunication-
related universities, research institutes
and corporations."
Through this IT 21 Conference, he
notes: "The Conference is eager to present
its strategy and vision about the next-generation growth engine industry after the
year 2008 to the nation, introduce industry
competitiveness security way for corporations, and the core technologies to enable
the next-generation growth engine for the
academic world."
In relation to last year's Conference
outcome, Kim assessed: "Last year's IT
21 Conference has been propelled with
the aim to collect the latest information
about u-infrastructure technology, uApplication technology, and u-Business
technology besides forming a human network at home and abroad and grasping
the present condition for the sake of associated technology industrialization."
Regarding Korea's next-generation IT
growth engine outlook, the chairman
emphasized: "Provided we don't intensively nurture Enabling Technology,
Digital Convergence, and New Industry
Fusion fields, our growth engine has no
With regard to the outlook about digital convergence and new industry fusion,
Professor Kim epitomized: "The movement to switch over to a Ubiquitous society breaks down greatly into u-Korea, uinfrastructure construction, u-technology
development, u-industry nurturing and usociety foothold preparation."
Regarding the internationalization
efforts for the 2007 IT 21 Conference on
the other hand, Kim said: "By absorbing
ubiquitous technology-related conferences at home and abroad into this IT 21
Conference, we will make efforts for the
internationalization of this conference."
He further explained: "I suppose that
established conferences remain at the
level of the mere introduction of technology and its outlook in the future whereas
this IT 21 Conference will play an important role to pinpoint national growth
engine technology and vision since the
year 2008 through substantial opinion
exchange of an educational-industrial-laboratorial complex." Thus, we will develop this IT 21 Conference into something
which can discharge a pivotal role so that
Korea may lead worldwide IT industry in
the years to come, he committed.
industry plus utilizing it as material for
policy establishment in the future.
We will do our best so that the
industrial world can be a help to
industry development by allowing
them to utilize this Conference's outcome and further the theory and the
scene of the industry to coincide with
each other through opinion exchange.
Third, in connection with USociety, this year's IT 21 Conference
will present material collection and
direction about U-society's international standards, thereby preparing a
ground to secure itself technology in
the U-society field.
Finally, the IT 21 Conference will be
able to expect effects which contribute
to forging international manpower network through international exchange.
agreements with the IEEE Computer
Society of the USA and Japan's
IEICE. It will also prepare society
publicity and exchange by inviting
each society's Chairman when holding international academic rallies.
What's more, KIPS will enlarge
international IT exchange by inviting
prominent overseas scholars as editing committee members, needless to
say distributing KIPS' English journal
to each IT-related society abroad.
INTERVIEW
by Yeo Hong-il
[email protected]
choice but to stop." In particular, he
stressed that related business circles must
unearth and create next-generation IT
growth engine technology by nurturing
diverse fields and by securing the core
technology ranging from soft infrastructure, Open System Architecture, HCI to
broadcasting communication convergence, virtual reality, information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology
and intelligence-model robotics.
In reference to its publicity plan for the
remaining period at home and abroad,
Professor Yang Young-kyu of the College
of Software at Kyungwon University who
is on the Conference's publicity committee, stressed: "The basic of its publicity is
the best to select themes befitting their
interest and to secure prominent speakers
so that participants are interested."
It is of no use if themes can't attract
the interest of the audience, he pointed
out. He said that this Conference's academic committee has composed today's
substantial for reflecting on the urgent
problem of the next full growth of the
Korean IT economy.
Professor Kim Byung-ki, KIPS Chairman
Q: What is KIPS' contribution plan
for corporate competitiveness
improvement and the development
of information technology in the
21st century?
A: In preparation for convergence
technology which is at the center of a
fast changing IT paradigm, KIPS
wants to present the future IT technology, convergence technology
vision and strategy for corporations.
Q: what is the result maximization
plan for the remaining period?
A: Through this Conference I
believe that participants will be able
to grasp the present condition about
U-Society-related technology and
Q: How is the connection program
and project with another society?
A: In order to hold international
academic rallies (APIS, ICUT, ALPIT)
by teaming up with renowned overseas societies, KIPS is scheduled to
strengthen its bond through MOUs
with famous overseas societies.
For that end, KIPS will beef up
bonds through mutual cooperation
Q: We understand that this year's
IT 21 Conference has invited
heavyweights to its Key note
speech and panel discussion.
A: With Next-generation IT growth
engine as its main theme, this year's
IT 21 Conference consists of three
tracks -- Enabling Technology, Digital
Convergence, and New Industry
Fusion. Regarding the keynote
speech, former MIC minister Chin
Dae-je will speak about the advent of
the Ubiquitous age and our preparation. The panel discussion will also
discuss the same theme.
Greater Budget
Backing Educational
Industrial
Collaboration
A
s the most representative academic conference at home, this forthcoming June's IT 21 Conference
to be hosted by the Korea Information
Processing Society (KIPS) promises to be
a successful one thanks to prominent foreign experts' presentations and a number
of domestic corporations' sponsorship
including Korea Telecom (KT), Samsung
SDS, and the Korea Digital
Communication Corporation (KDC)..
Such conviction was confirmed
through a previous interview conducted
by the Korea IT Times on the occasion of
the IT 21 Conference with Professor
Yang Hae-sool, PhD of Hoseo University
Graduate School of Ventures who is
responsible for its organizing committee.
Touching upon the fact that success or
failure of this forthcoming IT 21
Conference depends on budget to a considerable degree, he said that he takes charge
of the most important position for carrying
out this IT 21 Conference successfully.
For this year's IT 21 Conference to be
held on June 21 to 22 at COEX, Seoul,
Korea, approximately 180 million won
(US$194,100) will be used to invite distinguished experts from foreign countries
or to allow it to make progress successfully including program book dispatches,
conference venue contracts, and homepage manufacturing according to Yang.
In consideration of the fact that last
year's IT 21 Conference was a little fragile
and its hailing was few, Yang said: "The
organizing committee attached importance
to inviting IT heavyweights including the
MIC Minister, multinational IT corporation chairman and various circles' experts,
selecting next-generation IT growth
engines such as enabling Technology,
Digital Convergence, and New Industry
Fusion as the Conference's main theme."
With regard to an opinion that IT 21
Conference must attach importance to
educational-industrial collaboration, the
software quality expert pointed out that
because in some academic conferences,
the steam of breath from the academic
world is strong, original purport for facilitating educational-industrial cooperation
is being transmuted.
In view of the importance of such educational-industrial collaboration,
he emphasized: "The main theme
for this year's IT 21 Conference
is Industrial Survival Strategy for
Next Generation Information
Technology." In that context, its
host purpose also is to maximize
corporate
competitiveness
improvement through mutual
exchange and opinion interchange regarding information
technology development direction along with new information
technology dissemination which
is being deemed as a pivotal part
Data,
Information,
Knowledge
Professor Yang Hae-sool PhD, Hoseo
University
of industrial survival strategy, he said.
Citing the Graduate School of
Ventures at Hoseo University Seoul
Campus as a good example of an educational-industrial collaboration, Yang
explained: "Its Graduate School education of Ventures holds a big significance
nationally or socially in that the Graduate
School reeducates IT or venture start-up
executives and confers a good quality
degree for master's courses or doctoral
courses on them, rating their industrial
on-the-scene experience high."
In reference to a desirable development direction of this IT 21 Conference
in the future, he has committed himself
to do his best so that the Conference can
develop in a direction which comprises
up to fields Korea didn't secure its superiority in world IT market by teaming up
with the industrial world. In connection
with this, he pointed out: "Since most
academic societies' conferences are operated with a professor-oriented form,
some academic conferences don't accept
the latest IT trend and paradigm swiftly."
In closing, he furthermore underlines
the importance of budget backing so that
IT 21 Conference may develop more
internationally including inviting globally-renowned scholars without worrying
any budget shortage.
Professor Lee Sung-young PhD of College
of Electronics and Information of
KyungHee University
A
s the 21st century's society structure becomes complex, technology and industry are developing in
a way which attaches importance to each
individual's inclination, individuality, private life and creativity, meeting diverse
demand of people.
On the occasion of the IT 21
Conference Professor Lee Sung-young
PhD of College of Electronics and
Information of KyungHee University
agreed with such a phenomenon in a previous interview with the Korea IT Times.
Touching upon the fact that the
future's IT industry also respects individual human values and personality, he
added: "It is evolving to a direction
which provides not only convenience,
but also pleasure -- culture, arts, entertainment and design -- needless to say
improving life's quality.
At the same time, he diagnosed: "The
future's IT industry paradigm will be
changed from supplier-oriented to consumer-focused while convergence and
divergence between technology and
industry are accelerated and the so
called Ubiquitous society is predicted to
be settled."
About necessary technology and
industry in order to secure a next-generation IT growth engine, the government
will come to present a national roadmap
and vision, corporations will come to
deal with industry competitiveness security strategy, and the academic world will
intensively discuss regarding the future
core element technology respectively in
each track, he expressed big expectation.
In this Digital Convergence session,
the IT 21 Conference speakers will take a
view of the present condition and outlook
of Communication convergence infrastructure between all available wired and
wireless communication media which
can deliver data, information and knowledge as a technology and industry area
that is converged with a digital basis.
Broadcasting communication convergence too between broadcasting services
and communication infrastructure which
is predicted to exert an enormous influence on human life in future society is an
important discussion agenda in its Digital
Convergence session.
Lee said that the digital entertainment
field also will be discussed as a content
industry which boosts quality of life in a
digital renaissance era and can make it
rich and give pleasure.
In its New Industry Fusion session,
according to professor Lee, participants
will first discuss robots in which various
technologies and industries are converged such as mechanics, electronics,
control, software, sensors, brain science
and human intelligence science.
Second, u-Healthcare, which improves
the quality of life and prepares for an
advanced age society, is introduced.
Third, the present status and new emergence of biotechnology, nanotechnology,
and information technology convergence
industries will be discussed as for staple
industry fields in which convergence with
established traditional industries centering on IT gets accomplished.
Professor Lee concluded that its
Enabling Technology session will come
to deal with important core element technology which enables digital convergence and convergence industry.
What's more, web technology and intelligent information management technology which can search for vast amounts of
information in an Ubiquitous age and manage them, imbedded system technology,
computer security technology for individual private life and security, and a humancomputer interaction technology will be
discussed in connection with their present
condition and development direction.
Google Chairman
Cover Story
Eric Schmidt Goes After
Windows
by Chun Go-eun
[email protected]
T
he CEO of Google Eric Schmidt
had a press conference at Sheraton
Grand Walkerhill Hotel on May 30,
2007, and stated that: "For Google, Korea is
very important." "We are developing the
services that will change peoples' lives both
in America and Korea."
Who would be the suitable rival for
Google, the biggest Internet search enterprise? Could Naver or Daum in Korea be its
competitor? Or would Yahoo be its rival?
But the target Google aimed for in the speech
was not any other Internet search engine or
the portals that shared them. It was
Microsoft's flagship operating system,
Windows. That is what Google is going after.
CEO Schmidt stated at the conference:
"We don't compete. We don't look for competitors. Our only interest is to aim higher and
find a better way to meet our customers'
needs."
Eric Schmidt who visited Korea for the
first time to attend Seoul Digital Forum
2007 shared his ambition on this day at the
press conference. He already expected a
world that would be led by the Internet
instead of Personal Computers (PCs).
"When this comes true, personal data or
information will be kept on the Internet
rather than personal computers," Schmidt
continued, "The word processor, graphics
tools, and application software won't have
to be installed on personal computers anymore. Internet sites will provide the software, and by using this, personal information and materials will eventually need to be
kept on Internet sites."
This is actually stunning news because
that will allow one to keep any documents
even when PCs fail. "Before, when the computer froze or broke down, documents could
not be recovered. You just lost them all.
However, any documents could be accessible in any personal computer at anytime anywhere, and Google is at the center of this new
computer life," marked Eric Schmidt.
The CEO also shared his business plan
for Korea. He said, "Korea is the heart of
information technology and a huge
Laboratory of the digital world." He noted
that a variety of experiments will be done in
Korea to pursue the future goals of Google
and he will do this by keeping a close partnership with Korean enterprises. At the
current point, Google is cooperating with
Samsung Electronics, LG electronics, SK
Telecom, and Daum Communications.
And during his visit to Korea, CEO
Schmidt contacted those corporations and
discussed collaboration.
At the press conference, Google showed
numerous Internet application programs.
By typing certain search words, users can
get the full set of related information in text,
pictures and music. This service is called
Universal search. Also, the 7 most wanted
buttons including e-mail, calendar, and tools
were shown on the Google Korea web site.
Schmidt added: "Google would like to be as
practical a tool for users as a toothbrush."
According to CEO Schmidt's plan,
Google will be the only path to access the
information. Because of this, some worry
about Googlization, the phenomenon that
Google gets the entire spotlight in the world.
"Portals will be used to make a better
world by the wise people. Since it chases
every single moments of one's life, it will
give the politics hard time." CEO Schmidt
said and added laughter in a room. Lastly on
the issue of restrictions on portals, he stated
that he is willing to follow any procedures
and laws of the government. Shumidit concluded, "Google will work with the government to solve any problems together for the
high quality of Internet culture."
Overview
R
obotics is a topic that strikes the
imagination of humanity worldwide. Even in the oldest legends of
Greek and Hebrew myth, robots have
existed, if by other names. Talos of Greek
myth was an artificial man made of bronze
that guarded the island of Crete and threw
rocks at any approaching ships. In the legend of Jason and the Argonauts, Talos was
defeated by removing a nail, one of his
parts. Ancient Hebrew myths also speak
of golems, artificially created man-shaped
automations created by holy men using
secrets from God. They worked perfectly
and untiringly, but could not speak. Norse
legends also refer to an artificial person, a
clay giant named Mistcalf, which
Hrungnir built in order to fight the god of
thunder, Thor. Unfortunately the clay
giant was not very useful in a fight.
Today, robots are much more than legends, but the technology is still in its infan-
cy. Whereas simple computer technology
is currently a mature industry with discrete
and steady evolution in design and functionality, robotics has yet to find its niche.
But many people believe that the time of
the robot will come soon. And there are
quite a few who believe that it will come first
here in Korea. Robot technology is advancing on many fronts here, but one of the most
interesting is involved in the Federation of
International Robot-soccer Association.
Cover Story / Robot Industry
Interview
Robots, an Expert's View
The following are excerpts from an interview with Shin Kyung-chul, Ph.D.
ENC and President of Yujin Robot -- Ed.
Yujin Robot’s iClebo Free
I
n order for Korea's robot industry to be
activated, the market demand for robots
must expand internationally. Currently,
Korea is able to facilitate and develop its
demand in international technological markets.
Mr. Shin Kyung-Churl, PhD and
President of Yujin Robot and the chairman
of the Korea Association of Robotics
(KAR), revealed these opinions in his
exclusive interview with Korea IT Times.
"Robot products, whose performance
was verified in Korea," the robot industry
veteran said, "hold a high possibility to be
successful in overseas markets."
Touching upon the fact that Korea's
robotics industry is well equipped for global
competition, Shin emphasized that it is most
important to be strong in the domestic market. By sustaining the demand in the domestic market, in one or two years, Korean robot
manufacturers will be well established and
prospering in overseas markets as well.
Therefore, remaining localized within
Korea is not the answer to a prosperous and
growing robotics technology sector. The
question is, then, where is Korea's robot
technological sector currently standing in
relation to global competitiveness in the
technological market?
For the last six years, businesses within
Korea have been developing and building
upon their robotics technology. Also, within
the last four years, the Korean government has
designated the robotics technological industry
as one of the most important economic growth
Yujin Robot's iClebo Free
sectors within the country. Shin asserts that,
from these historical facts, Korea's robotics
technological sector has been and will be producing fine technological products.
Shin insists that the ultimate goal for
robot technology is to create and produce a
robot that can perfectly communicate with
human beings, enabling it to fulfill every
need that a human society could desire.
"For instance," Shin states, "currently a
cleaning robot, an educational robot, a network robot, or a guard robot has arrived at
the stage where they can explain functions
even though these robots have not reached
their maximum commercialization potential." He asserts, though, that the demand
for these robots will increase on the international market as the government continues
to provide help to the robot businesses.
These futuristic robots can be used in
such programs as u-City and u-Home projects by utilizing and developing these
robots, the development and expansion of
these buzzed-about programs will largely
improve. This dream, though, can only turn
into reality through active dialogue between
many technological sectors. The construction field, home network field, telecommunication field, and robot creation field must
communicate to construct a successful commercialization model.
In robot business circles' task to develop
the robotics industry even more, the president
said: "In the case of reconstructing the robot,
the first reformation must be attended to well.
Second, functions such as the inhalation and
navigation must be recreated carefully to produce an extremely effective robot."
Shin, however, mentioned a price problem that would arise if the new robot
receives a popular response from the public
market. After the new robot's activation,
the demand for the robot will actually
decrease its market price. "In particular," he
said, "providing a robot market comes to
show its market scale to some degree, the
robot manufacturer company's commercialization plan will move with a pre-circula-
tion
structure
as normally
done and, therefore,
alter its final circulation price."
Regarding the robot construction fields
and industries that Korea already controls in
other countries, Shin flatly stated: "It is too
early to say anything about the effect that
may come from this change in the robot
industry." To take a lead globally, he
asserted that it is as important to be recognized at home with the commercializing of
home products and abroad.
The foil in Shin's plan is that countries
that have profited for the last few decades
from their robotic industrial sectors, such as
Japan, USA, and Europe, are currently suffering difficulties in the selling of their
robots. Shin admits to this problematic
globally growing trend and responds by
stating: "Although the technological development of robots is necessary, it is far more
important to construct a social system that
supports the use of these robots. For example, focusing on building a demand for
these robots in the educational sector of
human society will guarantee their sustainability as a commercial product."
Buyers discuss at the Hometech Exhibition in Dubai in May
in June of this year. His speech will discuss using robots as a
tool for future digital technology to be grafted on. He will
include in this speech the need for robots not to be solely commercially focused on the needs of the Korean market, but also
catering to the needs of the global sphere. Robots of the future
must meet the diverse needs of a people from many regions of
the world.
Regarding to the technological sectors ability to create
and activate such ideal robots, Shin ensured that Korea's
robotic industry continues to quickly advance. For example,
the Yujin Robotics Company has sold over one thousand
cleaning robots this year. In Dubai alone, the company is
expected to sell at least seven thousand cleaning robots. In
addition, the iClebo Free cleaning robot has displayed perfect
performance in helping maintain a region that is known for
its dirt coming from the localities' immense deserts. For
more information on these robots, please check the company's website at www.yujinrobot.com.
Q: Then, can we see that robot is actually utilized as a finished
product? It is said that Yujin Robot Company's iCLEBO has
already crossed a developmental breaking point and is only currently being improved on for market sale.
A: The cleaning robot is currently being sold both online and offline.
Entertainment and education robots are also entering the sales market.
In addition, the network home robot and guidance airport and station
robot are in pilot development. Once these robots finish their piloting
stage, they can easily be successfully sold on the robotics market.
Q: What do you think about the task for successfully advertising and producing international demand for these robots?
A: It is very important to expand past the domestic market and enter
the international market. At the same time, the government's effort to
secure internal robot market provides commercial support. Therefore, it
is important that a demand for these robots is forged unto the international market while also respecting the Korean government's internal economic-security desires.
One More Step to Number One
Robots together tomorrow
With regard to the upcoming Robot
World 2007 forum to be held under the title
ROBOT, Together & Tomorrow from
October 18th to 21st in COEX Mall, he
expressed that he possesses big expectations for the conference. Shin states that the
exhibition itself should be much larger than
previous conference exhibitions such as the
Korea Robot Conference, the International
Robot Conference and the International
Robot Industry Show.
Prior to the inauguration of Robot World
2007, Shin is scheduled to present a speech
entitled Robots and Digital Convergence at
the IT policy forum organized by SEK, the
Solution and Contents Exhibition of Korea,
Q: What is the direction in which Korea's robotic industry is working?
A: The direction of our nation's robotics technology is towards
enabling all users to create and/or produce any item they desire
through simply communicating with the robots. In that context, robot
have yet to achieve the ability to be commercialized both at home and
abroad; however, provided that the current developing robot's commercialization will be successful, these styles of robots will make a strong
entrance into the international market.
Robot World 2007 will be held over four
days from October 18th through 21th, 2007 at
COEX, Seoul, Korea. It is expected to live up
to its catchphrase, which is The 2nd Wonder
Next to Semiconductors, Robots Together
Tomorrow. Organizers plan a robot festival in
which not only the academic world related to
the robotics industry, the industrial world, and
governmental associated institutions, but also
all people who love robot at home and abroad
can participate.
Hosted under the auspices of the Ministry
of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE)
and supervised by a total of 9 robot-associated
institutions including the Korea Association of
Robotics, the largest scale robotics exhibition
and convention Robot World 2007 will serve
as a ground for publicity to acquaint the world
with Korea's robot industry. At the same time
it will create substantial business between participating companies and buyers.
MOCIE officials said that the government, the academic world, industrial circles
and robot-related persons are uniting their
efforts in order to secure an initiative of the
world robot market through preemptive market creation of the robotics industry.
In that respect, they expected: "This year's
Robot World would serve as an important
momentum to let the nation know the government's will toward a robot power while allowing the nation to change their awareness about
robot as a companion for the future society."
The Robot World 2007 will be composed
of the International Robot Industry Show
(iRIS), International Robot Contest (IRC), and
Korea Robot Conference (KRC), according to
the Secretariat of the Robot World 2007.
Through diverse incidental events such as
new product launching show which can introduce and publicize company's new products
at home and abroad, robot theme pavilion
which will embody the encounter of robots
and movies, robots and arts, between robots
and the future and business plaza which provides business' opportunity between participating companies and buyers, Secretariat
officials emphasize that this upcoming
October we can share the future with robots
while allowing us to recognize the coming
robotics world.
Cover Story / Robot World 2007
One Robot in Every Household
Samsung Techwin -From Manned
Security to
Unmanned Security
MOCIE gunning for the future sooner
Director Sim Hag-bong, Robot Industry
Division, Future Growth Industries Office,
Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy
K
orea's robot policy to preoccupy
the world market converts from
an established Catch-up strategy
to a Leading strategy. The Ministry of
Commerce, Industry and Energy
(MOCIE) decided to make the One
Household One Robot Era earlier from
initially the year 2020 to the year 2015.
Concerning robot industry's policy
direction, director Sim Hag-bong, Robot
Industry Division, Future Growth
Industries Office, Ministry of
Commerce, Industry and Energy
stressed: "A preemptive market creation
will decide robot leading countries,"
adding that to date all industry strategies
have been catch-up strategies for Korea
behind the United States of America and
Japan. In that regard, the robot industry
is the only field Korea can do well, he
said. However, diverse integration in the
case of robotics is necessary because it is
a representative convergence industry.
Moreover, due to the fact that robotics is
a field whose spontaneous industry
development is difficult, now is the time
when its initiative is necessary through a
feint operation of national-initiative
selection and concentration. What's
more, Korea's robot industry R&D performance holds a structure which is difficult to be commercialized due to the
shortage of research accumulation, Sim
pointed out. In camparison with
advanced robotics countries, Korea's
robot technology level remains at 70%.
The number of robotics-related patents is
also only a quarter of other countries'
patents. Hence, continuous R&D
enlargement and research manpower
expansion are needed, he said.
According to the Ministry's robot industry development strategy to nurture robot
industry as the leading part of the second
semiconductor myth creation, MOCIE is
operating the Robot Industry Policy
Forum with the view of drawing policy
plans by fields of the purpose of new
market creation.
Korean-model Robot Land to
spark robot demand
In order to create large-sized robot
demand, Sim explained: "First of all, the
Ministry is considering introducing a
robot R&D securities issuance system so
that the market can haul technology." He
added that a share purchaser can be robot
R&D investor and tentative robot consumer in the future.
Regarding the importance of robot
funds, the robot expert director said: "It
is necessary to introduce robot funds
with the goal of solving investment and
demand simultaneously by means of the
general public's investment participation
system." By allowing a prospective
robot buyer to participate through robot
fund connections, this robot fund can be
a robot market's breakthrough by means
of market-participation model R&D
embodiment, he emphasized.
For the sake of securing profit, this
fund will be operated in investing in
another robot company or large-sized
commercialization for individual robot
for example, according to Sim. By raising a subscription fund worth 100 billion
won (US$108 million) at the latter half of
the year from governments, corporations,
and private investors, the MOCIE plans
to develop innovative robot products
befitting customer needs or to secure the
future's potential buyers.
Second, the MOCIE is considering
forging Robot Land for the purpose of
initiating the world robot market, according to Sim. To grow as a global mirror of
world robot industry in the 21st century,
the director underlined: "It is urgent for
us to establish Korea's robotics industry
standing through this Robot Land."
Economic ripple effects when forging
Robot Land is expected to reach to 577.3
billion won (US$621 million) and
employ 6,894 persons. If two million
visitors come to this Robot Land annually, Sim presumed that approximately
74.3 billion won (US$79.9 million)
turnover will be generated including a
128.9 billion won production induction
effect (US$140 million) and employment
of 2,233 persons.
About the background of such Robot
Land's formation plan, he explained: "In
the case of foreign countries such as the
USA's Kennedy Space Center or Japan's
Disney Land, those countries boost the
general public's understanding about cutting-edge industry and offer new market
demand through such facilities." He further said that this Robot Land project is
part of pilot projects aiming to propagate
robots in the hope of a large scale
demand for intelligent robots and artificial market creation.
As a result of a survey that was
enforced 16 nationwide cities or
provinces as its object at the beginning of
this year, 52.4% of respondents
expressed a favorable impression about
Robot Land, while 64.3% showed their
intention to visit it, Sim said. He commented: "Korean-model robot theme
An observation warning robot,
developed with domestic technology
park Robot Land will serve as a ground for close information exchange between consumer, developer and producer
besides serving as the future-oriented complex culture
space."
Urgent robot ethics charter
As the so-called robot culture society is anticipated with
one household one robot era's advent as an impetus by the
upcoming 2020, Sim on the other hand points out that the
importance of a robot ethics charter is raised in earnest.
Touching upon the fact that for example, a sex robot can
destroy human order, he notes that national consensus is
necessary about robot roles and its function in terms of ethical level.
In that context, it is necessary to proclaim a robot ethics
charter and adapt it so that on one hand, robot demand can
be created through an ethical confidence boost, he maintained. Such robot ethics charter comes to prepare legal and
institutional gadgets to protect human beings from robots,
according to Sim. In regard to Korea's robotics industry
roadmap in the future, he has committed himself to providing special manpower of 10,000 persons by 2011 besides
accomplishing the third position in terms of international
competitiveness in robot personal resources field by 2013.
So he said that MOCIE aims to be ranked as global country
in the field of robotics for service by the year 2015.
Korea's
Samsung
Techwin
(www.samsungtechwin.co.kr) is
scheduled to market an
observation warning
robot developed in cooperation with another several robot-specialized
small and medium-sized
companies in Korea from
the end of the year 2008.
This intelligent-model
observation warning
robot, displayed at the
2006 Robot World last
year, can recognize an
object even in a dark circumstance at night with a
color moving image.
Samsung Techwin general manager Ryu Hence, this warning robot
Myung-ho responsible for its
is assessed to be a better
observation warning robot development
technology than an observation robot which is
developed in Israel. Samsung Techwin officials responsible for
this robot's development said: "The development of this intelligence-model observation warning robot was completed by
teaming up with its special laboratory, which is in charge of the
defense industry field's product development within Samsung
Techwin." Regarding the company's momentum that came to
develop robot, they explained: "Samsung Techwin basically
possesses technologies which are necessary for robot development through defense industry gadgets, security, optics and
imaging vision field projects. So we judge that robot market's
business outlook is high since Security market is changing from
manned Security to unmanned Security."
This is the first time that Samsung Techwin developed robots,
but they regard the concept of robot as a project of unmanned
system which don't need a person, not a simple unit product,
Samsung Techwin officials assert. Therefore, Samsung
Techwin aims to enable unmanned observation warning by
bundling a lot of robots as system, not one robot, they said.
Cover Story / FIRA RoboWorld Cup 2007
From One Technical
Challenge to
Another
If we can put
a more high-powered CPU into this
small robot, then we
can expect such a
nice I, Robot robot.
But now, no.
by Matthew Weigand
[email protected]
Professor Kim Jong-hwan, president of FIRA and director of
Intelligent Robot Research Center at KAIST
P
rofessor Kim Jong-hwan, president of FIRA and director of
I n te llig e nt Robot Re se a rc h
C e n te r a t K A I ST , i s not a na t i ve
speaker of English, reminisced about
his ten years as the father of robot soccer. "I started the MiroSot game in
1995," he said, "and at that time it was
a 3 versus 3 game. It was more than
ten years ago, so at that time integration of the motor control system, computer vision technology, wireless communication, and multi-agent cooperation system was very difficult." The
P r o f e s s o r s a id t ha t t he ga m e ha s
evolved quite a lot in the past years, so
that now full integration of many complex systems allows twenty-two robots
to play full 11 on 11 games.
Lateral expansion
The robot soccer tournament has also
expanded far beyond that singular first idea
of 3 on 3. There are now seven different
categories in which organizations can compete. The first, and oldest, is the MiroSot,
which refers to micro robot soccer tournaments. There is also RoboSot for larger
robots and NaroSot for smaller sized robots.
SimuroSot is a competition for simulated
software soccer games without actual
robots at all. KhepraSot is a 1 on 1 match
between self-contained autonomous robot
models. AndroSot is a competition
between robots that are controlled by people. The HuroCup is, in theory, a competition between walking, autonomous robots
that kick a soccer ball and play exactly like
regular human players.
Because it is there
T he profes s or s poke about the
HuroCup by saying: "For example,
hum a noid robot s occer games ,
HiroSot, so people can easily imagine
robots can easily run and jump and [hit
with their] head. But the technology is
still challenging, quite difficult to do
such a nice performance. So still we
are waiting for more technology to
have a nice game." The goal, for
HiroSot of course is to have an 11
robot team on each side, but for now
the competition is limited to single
robot feats of athletics such as a penalty kick, a robotic marathon and a
weight lifting competition.
Since the HuroCup is the newest
competition, Kim said that there are
also some funding problems. Building
a humanoid style robot can get expensive. "Some rich labs can build these
robots quite comfortably, but most
labs around the world may not have
e nough funds to build humanoid
robots," the professor explained. He
HSR-VII, the latest of KAIST's humanoid robots, holds the finger of Choi Jeong-hoo, a
student in Seoul who dreams of studying robotics at KAIST in the future
further went on to say that soccercapable robots require a kind of technology that is simply beyond current
commercial products. He pointed to
Honda and Sony, Japanese companies
who are producing bipedal robots for
commercial entertainment use, and
noted that while they are interesting
from a commercial standpoint they
cannot really do something as athletic
as kick a ball.
"So I may say that we started this
HuroCup," Professor Kim continued,
"and as I mentioned we plan to follow
the same strategy as the MiroSot." He
referred to the ten year history of the
small robot soccer tournament, and
reminded that while in the beginning
the matches of 3 on 3 robots were a
striking technical achievement, now
full 11 on 11 tournaments are routine.
When asked if it was better in the
long run for robots to play soccer in
humanoid form or a more conventional
robotic form with wheels, the professor mentioned that the HuroSot was
more technically challenging from a
research point of view. "Even just to
find the way to the ball and kick it
towards the goal is quite difficult," he
explained. "This is much more difficult than other types."
Familiarity breeds ease
After speaking about the difficulties
of humanoid robots, the professor was
asked which of the competitions was
the easiest from a technical standpoint.
He responded to this by saying: "Well
the simulations games are pretty easy.
Also we started with MiroSot so it is
the easiest." The technologies for the
smaller, box robots with wheels are the
most advanced, and the rules for their
competition is the most mature. "For
the people who have financial restrictions on developing hardware robot
systems, the SimuroSot is open to
everybody. The same system is in
place, however the controlling strategies should be developed by participants. So this one,
so m e h o w, i s t h e
easiest one compared to other categories, because
they only have to
b u i l d t h e i r o wn
software."
Technical
explanation
Kim explained
the technical rules
of the game in great detail. The robots
are usually controlled by a central computer which broadcasts commands to
each robot wirelessly. While it is
allowed in the rules for the robots to
have their own sensors, normally feedback to the central computer that controls the robots is done from an overhead camera that is connected directly
to the team's computer. "The information from the overhead vision camera is
forwarded to the main PC, here," the
professor explained while pointed to a
diagram that he drew, "so while the
game is played by the robots, the game
is in essence a competition between this
computer and this computer."
Kim was asked about the outcome of the
games in the case that same robots and the
same computer programs were run multiple
times. "Even though the same robots and the
same strategies are used, the outcome would
not always be the same because of the
Butterfly effect." However, he said that the
computer programs and the robots were not
yet able to develop their own strategies.
Changing strategies would require the developers of the computer program would have
to call a time out and change strategy manually. "Maybe in twenty years we can expect
those excellent learning systems, self-evolv-
ing systems," he admitted.
He said that the main roles of the
robots in his tournament are controlled
by the PC, but the robots themselves
only get direction and velocity commands from the PC, then the robots
themselves carry out the goal of moving to the location that the PC commanded them. So the robots have a
small bit of autonomy now, but not
complete autonomy. "It depends on
the architecture of organizing the system," he explained, "You can give all
the intelligence into here [the PC], or
some of the intelligence can be put
into here [the robot]."
Waxing philosophical
Professor Kim also spoke about the
future of robotics by referring to popular culture. "You might know the
movie I, Robot -- NS5. This robot is
quite smart, it has its own intelligence,
it can make its own decisions, it has its
o wn e m o t i o n s an d mo tiv atio n s .
Currently this robot is somehow a
small mechanical or mechatronic system. If we can put a more high-powered CPU into this small robot, then
we can expect such a nice I, Robot
robot. But now, no."
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
High prospects for Korean robotics for
the next 20 years
New opportunities overseas
"Technologically," Cho explained,
"Japan is still ahead of Korea as it has a
long history of robot development.
However, Korean robots are intelligent
robots that can be utilized for everyday
use with the converged networking and
advanced IT technology in which Korea
takes pride."
Noting that robots are in a word
evolved digital terminals, Cho forecasted
that the robot market will grow to surpass
the size of the automobile market by
2020. "Existing digital terminals such as
PCs, MP3 players, and cellular phones
don't have any mobility function, whereas robots are focused on mobility.
Besides, the digital market can be seen as
the robots market where established terminals are evolving to become robots,"
Cho pointed out.
Against such background, the expert
turned president believes the future of
robotics is bright in the field of education, too. "We expect roughly 20~30%
of our sales goal of 10 billion won
[US$10.8 million] for this year will be
attained from the export of educational
robots," said the president, adding that
the company has signed a sales contract
with a German firm in February this year
for the export of 30,000 educational
robots.
"The creation of new markets for our
robots is somewhat difficult," Cho
acknowledged. "Even so," he said, "I am
optimistic that the future will be bright as
Korea's standing among the high-tech
countries, such as Japan, the US and
some other European countries that produce soccer robots, ranks high and we
are proud to have contributed to this."
In the meantime, IZI Robotics is en
route to be listed on the KOSDAQ market through a merger with an auto parts
supplier next month. Through the listing,
Cho anticipates IZI Robotics would be
placed on a favorable position to secure
stable funds for the production, circulation, and marketing of intelligent robots,
thereby boosting the company's value.
For a robotics company that has taken
part in the US RoboBusiness earlier this
year in Boston, IZI Robotics has high
hopes of paving a new market in the US
and winning substantial business contracts to attain its sales target of US$10.8
million.
Intelligent robots
IZI Robotics supplies 90% of the soccer robot demand across Asia, Europe,
Central and South America, and
Australia.
The VICTO, IZI Robotics' soccer
robot, uses icons on the screen instead of
C++ programming. This allows even
elementary school children to employ
some strategies or tactics based on a
Graphical User Interface (GUI) and play
an actual game with robots.
Another soccer robot, the YSR-A, is
the one that has been developed for university student tournaments, and this
item has been used both domestically and
Robot president Wayne T. Cho
Robot's Soccer Robot
Robot's ER-6 open
Robot's netoy
Robot's CUBO
About Robot-Soccer
Robotics in Sports, Education
For IZI Robotics, a Korean robotics
company that provides 90% of the
world's soccer-playing robots, the 12th
FIRA RoboWorld Cup USA 2007 is
reckoned to be a good opportunity to
acquaint world buyers and visitors with
its creative technology and products.
According to Wayne T. Cho, president of IZI Robotics, the RoboWorld
Cup, which is to be held on June 14-17,
holds a very significant meaning as it can
introduce robot soccer, a core Korean
technology, to the United States.
IZI
IZI
IZI
IZI
IZI
abroad in over 20 countries. Its superiority has been also already recognized during the FIRA International World Cup.
IZI Robotics' ER-6, an educational
robot for elementary, middle and high
school students, is receiving a considerable number of orders from Europe,
according to Cho.
ER-6 has features such as a variety of
input/output modules and software, easy
assembly, practical hardware tested by the
IZI Lab program, and an easily understood GUI programming option for robot
control. The robot can perform such basic
functions as tracing lines, playing soccer,
participating in a sumo game and music
composition. It is operated with a remote
control.
In the latter half of the year, IZI
Robotics is scheduled to launch the networked emotional robot Netoy in collaboration with KT. Netoy is said to be capable of making emotional expressions with
its arms and LED readouts, providing
information about weather and news and
entertainment functions of streaming
mp3s, private secretary, voice messenger,
alarm clock, and other miscellaneous
functions such as those of a clock and a
nightlight.
Robot soccer, a high-tech scientific sport, was developed as a
multi purpose testing ground for
learning and applying high tech
in the field of image analysis,
artificial intelligence, sensors,
communication, electronic precision control, dive motors, and
software and hardware. Since
then, the sport has enjoyed a
steady growth as more and more
young scientists participate.
There are three robot soccer
events: MiroSot, NaroSot and
RoboSot. Presently MiroSot,
which constitutes a main part of
the sport, is played in a small
150cm x 130cm field with a team
of three micro robots measuring
less than 7.5cm in length, width
or height. There are two teams
playing the soccer in a similar
manner as the real field sport.
Points are earned for placing a
golf ball into the other team's
goal. The game is played not by
humans operating remote controls but by computers making
intelligent decisions.
The first international robot
soccer world cup, which can be
referred to as the formal event
for robot soccer, was held at
KAIST in November of 1996, and
the second was played in June
of 1997 at the same venue.
Only after three years since
the birth of robot soccer on June
5th 1997, the Federation of
International Robot-soccer
Association (FIRA), an international robot soccer federation,
was founded with the participation of 34 countries. After the
official inauguration of FIRA, all
international matches were
called the FIRA Robot World
Cup. The intelligence sport was
held in France in 1998 and in
Brazil in 1999. In both years,
the Korean team won the championship and received the media
spotlight.
The enthusiasm for the FIRA
international world cup competition grows day by day. Australia
hosted the 2000 championship
while China hosted one in
August of 2001, and Korea in
2002 along with the FIFA World
Cup. Robot soccer is reputed to
have made conspicuous footprints in the world of scientific
sporting.
Android Soccer Success
Pursing the next level
B
y pursuing
an assembly model
robot system rather
than a finished robot,
MINI ROBOT, a
specialized company for educational robots in
Korea, specializes in multi articulation
model robot systems. A frontrunner in
the Korea's robot industry, the company
has struck its root as a representative
company in the articulation-model
entertainment robot field and robot field
for education, president Chung Sangbong, MINI ROBOT said in a previous
interview.
First of all in relation to the company's goal, Chung emphasized: "It is to
serve as a robot company which provides users including the younger generation with most interesting and beneficial robots," attaching importance to
humanoid's popularization.
So MINI ROBOT is investing much
time and expense in developing systems
which study robots interestingly and
easily, according to Chung.
Keeping an eye on the possibility of
humanoid game robot and educational
robot markets, the company has developed a low price humanoid after one
year of efforts since it started low pricemodel humanoid robot project, called
ROBONOVA.
Edutainment robot ROBONOVA
allows in a word users to enjoy robots
while learning.
ROBONOVA's main feature is that it
is easy to make. It is possible to assemble with just one cross driver so that
even a beginner facing robot for the first
time, can easily assemble. Its design
structure, developed through long
research, allows even a beginner to be
able to assemble easily as if he figures
out block or puzzle, Chung said.
Second, the ROBONOVA robot system is convenient to use. By providing
two kinds programs plus the latest MRC3024 controller it offers beginners or
experts who want diverse robot manufacturing with robot motion program
environment easily.
OEM outlet abroad
In the light of the fact that this forthcoming FIRA RoboWorld Cup USA's
particular emphasis will be given to
applications and developments in the
area of entertainment, education, service
and personal robots, Korea's MINI
ROBOT holds many elements which
deserve attention from world buyers and
visitors including robot experts.
Before everything else, the company's business scope includes a multi
articulation model robot system development for home, an assistance robot
system development for an old and feeble people and handicapped people, a
robot system's development and popularization for education, robot product
development for exhibition, and a controller system development for industry.
However, Chung noted: "Ahead of a
corporation's profit, the upcoming FIRA
RoboWorld Cup 2007 USA will serve as
a good opportunity to acquaint the world
with Korea's standing in the robotics
industry including soccer robots."
With regard to MINI ROBOT's plan
to give a good example about humanoid
soccer in this forthcoming FIRA
RoboWorld Cup 2007 USA, Chung
said: "By applying humanoid soccer
robots the company would like to confirm a possibility of humanoid soccer
there."
Already, it is said that MINI ROBO side has
confirmed that there are sufficiently a possibility
in the process of operating humanoid soccer
games in the China Nationwide Robot Rally or the
Incheon Robot Great Rally the company has provided humanoid sets, according to Chung.
The most important thing to propagate soccer
robot is to lower soccer robot's price, he points
out, adding that in that respect, MINI ROBO
aims to down humanoid's price under the 1 million won mark (US$1,080).
The robot-veteran president epitomized the
significance of soccer robots by saying: "The
significance of soccer robot is very big in view
of the fact that soccer is a sport across all over
the world and further it is a sport to be played
permanently."
Although soccer robot is not a smart business
in terms of profit creation, its outlook is bright
provided it is activated, he said.
In reference to robot's Hanryu, or Korean
wave, Chung explained: "In terms of technology
order, Korea ranks the sixth position globally
following Japan, USA, Italy and Germany. But,
in terms of national support or the nation sentiment actually in personal robots, Korea ranks the
second position after Japan, thereby competing
with Japan right now in robot technology and
furthermore domestic robot development is expected
to develop as a
spearheading technology to be
able to lead world robot
technology."
Interview with President
Chung Sang-bong,
MINI ROBOT
Q: Which robot product is MINI ROBOT developing
currently?
A: Since its establishment on Mar. 1999, MINI ROBOT
has been participating in the government's robot policy
development projects.
Basically, our robot development standpoint is to do
articulation's movement as a basis, not rolling form.
What's more, MINI ROBOT pursues an assemblingmodel robot, not a finished-model product so that users
can assemble firsthand.
Q: How is the present condition for MINI ROBOT's
outlet?
A: Our robot for education is sold all over the world as a
form of OEM (Original equipment manufacturing) for
oversea sales including Japan, USA, Europe such as
Germany, and so forth.
The largest sales portion account for of course domestic home and Japan, but USA and Germany's sales volume is on the rise.
In the case of Europe, academic institutions order for
academic purpose and entertainment element is strong
in the event of USA and Japan.
Q: What do you think about a success possibility of
humanoid soccer robot?
A: By way of showing an example, MINI ROBOT will set
an example about humanoid soccer robot in the forthcoming FIRA RoboWorld Cup USA 2007 which will be
held in the middle of June in San Francisco.
For a robot-manufacturer company, soccer robot is not
a big market though it gives pleasure for viewers. Yet,
providing it is activated, I believe there is a sufficient
room for humanoid soccer to succeed.
Q: What's your opinion regarding a possibility Korea
will usher world robot technology in terms of a
spearheading technology?
A: Korea's robot industry is competing right now with
Japan in terms of robot technology to a some degree,
allowing us to be able to lead world robot technology.
For the sake of robot's Hanryu (Korean wave) in world
robot market or robot's popularization, it is full of suggestions for Korea that Japan regards robot as its
national vision project and as the most priority.
1) robonova soccer
2) President Chung Sang-bong, MINI ROBOT
European Robot Soccer Teams
Play Second Fiddle to Korea
by Tim Alper
[email protected]
I
t looks like a scene from a 1980s
science fiction film. Twenty-odd
miniature metallic matchboxes
chase each other around a desk that
looks like a ping pong table in the desperate pursuit of an orange golf ball. On
all sides, teams of frantic engineers
gnaw on their fingernails and anxiously
fiddle with computer keyboards.
Believe it or not, this is soccer -- only
not as most of the world knows it.
The founders of the original
RoboCup, the competition that spawned
Robot soccer, made an amazing claim
back in 1993. They proudly boasted:
"By the middle of the 21st Century, a
team of robots will be able to beat the
winners of the most recent World Cup."
It is hard to imagine the likes of
Ronaldinho, Park Ji-Sung and David
Beckham taking on these spinning tin
cubes, but makers of the robots say that
they are making quick progress.
Though most competitive teams are
made up of tiny box-like robots, there
are now even humanoid robots that
stand on two legs. That said, though,
these mechanized players can currently
do little more than take penalties or
dribble very slowly around obstacles.
While European soccer clubs might
dominate human soccer, Koreans hold
all the cards in the robot version of the
game. Teams from around the world
have been taking it in turns to try to
overthrow Korea, who dominate
international competitions. But with
limited funding and sponsorship for
European teams, there is a lot of ground
to make up.
Victor Pakhomov is the lead member
of the European side, The Moscow
Pioneers. His side hails from Russia's
leading robotics University department
-- the mechanical engineering faculty of
Moscow's MGU Institute. He explains
that lack of money and opportunities for
teams in Europe puts them at a disadvantage, especially when they go in for
competitions like the 2006 World Cup
in Dortmund.
"We funded our trip to Germany
largely with our own money," said
Pakhomov. "The robots are expensive
pieces of machinery which we have
invested heavily in."
Another factor that European sides
have to deal with is the lack of domestic
competition in their own countries. The
Moscow Pioneers are Russia's only
competitive side.
"It's a pity. We went to Dortmund
last year without having played a single
competitive match before. In Russia we
simply did not have anyone to play
against. We might have developed one
of the most technically advanced robot
soccer teams in the world, but there is
nobody else doing what we are in our
country," said Pakhomov.
Experts say a lack of individuality
and flair tends to be where the robot
players often fall down, though their
team spirit is second to no human side.
While the humanoid robots are capable
of independent decision-making, the
other models used in the international
competitions use the collective mind of
a single computer.
The Moscow Pioneers' Pakhomov
put it like this: "So far only the twolegged robots think for themselves. Our
miniature players have, if you will, just
one eye and one brain for the whole
team. The small cameras on the pitch
and players all send on information to a
central computer. That computer takes
into account all the variables and gives
instructions to the individual players."
So are the likes of The Moscow
Pioneers ready to take on the real-life
soccer champions of this World? Are
we to expect to see robot teams take on
clubs like Chelsea or Real Madrid any
time soon?
"Unfortunately not," Said Pakhomov.
"Our tiny robots bear very little resemblance to real life soccer players. They
move on wheels, they don't use their
feet. Instead they nudge the ball around
with their bodies. The whole game is
played out on a pitch sized 220 centimeters by 180."
The Moscow Pioneers' Pakhomov
said building an effective robot team is
much more complex than it looks to the
untrained eye. "There are between four
and eleven players on a team. Every
mechanical player needs to be able to
Korean soccer journalist Park thinks robots
have the power to transform sport
European Robot
Soccer Images
see the ball, the goal, its team-mates, the
opposition players -- and on top of this
they need to be able to control and kick
the ball. Every complex little player
needs to be able to assess any given situation," He says.
And Pakhomov adds that the difficulty of building a Robot Soccer team cannot be underestimated. "The size of this
task is phenomenal. It is straight out of
the world of science fiction. You might
say that it is a more difficult and more
complex task than building a computer
that is capable of beating the World
Chess Champion."
Dr. Ken Young is the brains behind
the operation at British side Evolution,
who hail from Warwick University in
the UK. When asked what factors make
Korean teams more successful, Dr.
Young held nothing back. It seems
Warwick's Evolution team did not find
the rules of robot soccer particularly
fair.
Dr. Young said: "At the moment it
appears to me that the Koreans do their
research and only when they have a
solution do they change the rules. At
this point they have no competition
because everyone else's research has
delivered something different."
Although Evolution are not focusing
on international competitions at the
moment, Dr. Young says the current
rules could well de-motivate potential
participants. "I can see that doing it the
way they organize regulations doesn't
inspire other countries to participate.
Formula 1 motor racing at least sets
their rules six months in advance, for
example. I have known robot soccer
regulations come out less than two
weeks in advance of a tournament," He
explained.
A lot of teams in Europe say they see
robot soccer as a character-building
challenge, rather than a race for trophies. The game, for many, is not about
the robots but
about the people who build
them and what
their involvement does to
develop them as
engineers and
people.
Dr.
Young said: "At
the
moment
robot soccer is
the best challenge around
for these engineers."
But
what
about the ultimate question will robots ever
really be able to
defeat people in
the
biggest
sport in the
World? Can
these miniature
golf carts actually ever aspire
to
become
World-beaters?
Park Kwangmin is a Korean
soccer journalist who writes for a variety of Korean newspapers and websites.
He greets the idea of robots and humans
engaged in sporting competition with a
surprising optimism.
He said: "It would bring in a whole
new dimension to soccer, and it could
even bring in a whole new set of fans.
Robots in sport -- that is definitely
something to get excited about."
However, Evolution's Dr. Young is
philosophical on the matter. "Do we
ever want to beat the best humans?
What would we do next? Sometimes
perhaps it is better to travel than to
arrive."
One of British side
Evolution's Robots
gears up for action
Evolution's Dr. Young
believes Korea needs
to play fair when it
comes to robot soccer
And perhaps he is right. If something as artistic and creative as soccer is
ever perfected by robots to the level
where Beckham and company would
have to hang up their boots, it might be
one of mankind's most impressive technological breakthroughs, but where
would that leave the World's most popular sport? Will future generations' children dream not of playing soccer like
Ronaldinho but of designing a robot that
can play better than him?
Ocean Day
INTERVIEW
The following are excerpts from an interview with Minister of
Maritime Affairs & Fisheries Kang Moo-hyun -- Ed.
Q: Would you introduce the government's efforts to introduce
the EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea and relevant problems?
A: The government has been going all-out to attract the EXPO
2012 Yeosu Korea. Related to this, it established the committee
supporting the attraction of the EXPO 2012 Yeosu Korea under the
chairmanship of the prime minister. President Roh Moo-hyun has
also made unsparing efforts for the introduction of the EXPO 2012
Yeosu Korea by requesting his counterparts to support Seoul's
move whenever he holds bilateral or multilateral summit meetings.
Not only in the government sector but also in the private sector,
all Korean people are exerting best efforts to attract the world
EXPO to Yeosu.
Aiming for Top 5 Ocean
Superpower
Minister of Maritime Affairs & Fisheries
Kang Moo-hyun
by Lee Kyung-min
[email protected]
K
orea is striving to become one of
the world's top five ocean superpowers by 2016.
"Korea will be able to enter the list of the
world's top five ocean superpowers by 2016
if it makes a strong push for enhancing competitiveness in the shipping and harbor industries, securing the ability of the fishery industry to stand on its own, and actively fostering
the future-oriented and high value added
ocean industry," said Minister of Maritime
Affairs & Fisheries Kang Moo-hyun.
At present, Korea ranked 10th in the
world in terms of sea power with its rankings of 1st in shipbuilding, 5th in container
disposal quantity, 8th in bottoms and 15th
in production of fisheries products.
"To help the country enter the list of the
world's top five ocean superpowers, the
government will enhance global competitiveness of the shipping, harbor and logistics industries by expanding growth foundation through establishment of organizations
exclusively dealing with shipping, logistics
and financing business and development of
investment funds," said Kang.
The ministry will also explore new
growth engines, such as the ocean cruise
industry, and build networks for global
shipping and logistics cooperation, he said.
The ministry will also convert the fishery industry into a new growth-oriented
industry through structural reform and market-centered distribution, processing and
safety systems.
"To cope with future environmental
changes such as shortage of land space,
deepening of environmental pollution and
shortage of resources & energy, we will
actively foster ocean science technology,
protect the ocean environment and create
new value in the ocean," said the minister.
Asked about the tasks to strengthen the
competitiveness of the domestic fishery
industry, Minister Kang said the domestic
fishery industry is suffering from market
opening, reducing fishery resources and
aging society.
"In particular, as the market opening
speed is expected to be accelerated further
owing to negotiations of FTA and
WTO/DDA, the domestic fishery industry
is required to seek new direction," he said.
Imports of fishery goods have steadily
increased from 1.2 million tons in 1996 to
1.4 million tons in 2000 and further to 2.6
million tons in 2006, but the domestic production of fisheries in coastal and neighbor-
ing waters reduced from 1.6 million tons to
1.2 million tons, and again to 1.1 million
tons during the corresponding period.
Meanwhile, the number of those in fishery villages decreased from 330,000 in
1996 to 223,000 in 2006 with the portion of
those aged 60 or older rising from 20.2 percent of the total to 34.3 percent during the
corresponding period.
For the fresh take-off of the domestic fishery industry, the government will create a
sustainable fishery production foundation by
systematically propelling projects to recover
fishery resources and persistently cracking
down on illegal fishery activities, he said.
To support and foster the farming industry, it will also diversify farming items and
accelerate development of high value added
fishery items, while actively fostering
export strategy items, including flatfish and
abalone, said the minister.
"We will aggressively foster the distribution and processing industries through
reform of the distribution structure and
strengthen the safety management for fisheries goods in order to enhance confidence in
fishery products among people," said Kang.
"In particular, the ministry will help fishery villages diversify and increase their
incomes through activation of tourism programs to fishery villages, while making all-out efforts to improve living standards of fishermen," said the minister.
On the plan to create new ocean industry generating high value adds, Minister Kang said that the ministry will push for demand-oriented mid and long-term
R&D projects and other fresh projects.
Related to this, the ministry is now conducting a
feasibility study on the development of the U-based
shipping logistics system and the development of
ocean investigation equipment using nanotechnology
and optical sensors.
"At the same time, we will place emphasis on activating R&D projects related to ocean science technology and the development of equipment for ocean
exploration and research equipment," he said.
In line with this, the ministry will map out a comprehensive plan to effectively and systematically
secure and manage ocean life resources, while developing relevant technologies, he said.
In particular, he continued to say, the ministry will
improve systems for finding out new R&D projects and
propulsion systems in the environmental, fishery and
safety fields.
The ministry will persistently push for R&D projects for specific fishery goods and commercialize mid
and large-scale R&D projects in the fishery fields.
For effective management of R&D projects in the
environmental and safety sectors, the government will
also reinvent the propulsion systems of the existing
businesses, while exploring new tasks continuously.
For instance, chairmen of Hyundai Motor and GS Caltex are participating in the mission to attract the world EXPO and engaging in
overseas promotion activities in Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Brazil,
and Oman.
At the same time, the government is actively pushing ahead with
the project to expand infrastructure, including roads and railroads, to
secure superiority to other rival cities in attracting the world EXPO.
Q: Would you comment on the government's plan to build a
user-oriented and effective harbor logistics system?
A: To promote convenience of users of harbor and efficiency,
the government has been making a strong push for the harbor
informatization project. It already established the Port-MIS system in 1996 and has been upgrading the system after collecting
opinions from harbor users and officials at relevant institutions.
The government established RFID-based wireless recognition system at nine container terminals in Busan Port in 2006.
Since April this year, it has been carrying out a gate automation
system and an automatic system to chase locations of containers
and plans to expand the systems to major container terminals in
the country, including Incheon and Gwangyang.
Q: May 31 is the Day of Sea. Do you have any plan to commemorate the Day of Sea?
A: To help people recognize the importance of sea and
enhance ocean exploration spirit, the government enacted May
31 as the Day of Sea in 1996.
The Ministry of Maritime Affairs & Fisheries,
Gyengsangbuk-do and Pohang City jointly held a ceremony to
celebrate the 12th Day of Sea at the construction site of Yeongil
New Port in Pohang, Gyeongsangbuk-do this year.
Under the subject of "life, production, sea of life," participants at
the event resolved to make all-out efforts to help Korea jump
toward ranks of the world's top five ocean superpowers.
Along with this, a joint academic forum of the Korea Ocean
Science Technology Council was held at COEX in Seoul on May
31 to June 1 where experts in ocean science and students
announced 660 papers.
INTERVIEW
KCTA 2007
Related to the Fostering of Content on the
systematic level for invigorating the content
industry following the liberalization of the
broadcasting market and the plans to support program providers (PPs).
Substantial plans to introduce a support
system for a digital production system for
PPs and for the foundation of a high definition (HD) transmission center will be examined.
The evolution of digital cable TV
KCTA Chairman Oh Jee-chul
Mature Technology Industry
Exhibition
by Lee Kyong-Whan
[email protected]
T
he KCTA (Korean Cable TV
Association) Exhibition &
Conference 2007 will take place
for three days from June 13 to June 15 at
the International Convention Center Jeju
(ICC Jeju). A detailed roadmap for the
Digital Media Center (DMC), the latest
equipment, and major issues of digital
cable TV will take center stage at the
exhibition. Sponsored by the KCTA and
supported by the Korean Broadcasting
Commission, the Ministry of Information
and Communication, and the Ministry of
Commerce, Industry, and Energy, the
exhibition is expected to draw a total of
about 3,000 people from over 1,000 companies around the world, the biggest size
in the exhibition's history.
200 Booths to exhibit latest
equipment and content
The exhibition venue will be comprised of 200 booths of over 120 Korean
and foreign companies. It has been
designed to add diversity along with a
network hall, content hall, and complex
services hall. An array of major equipment manufacturers, such as Samsung
Electronics, Motorola, Cisco, SA,
HUMAX, CURON, ARIS, BigBand
Networks, TANDBERG, Dong Yang
Telecom, Alticast, and ES Tech will participate.
They will introduce
Downloadable Conditional Access
System (DCAS) set top boxes, data over
cable service interface specifications
(DOCSIS) 3.0 solutions and systems
related to digital cable TV broadcasting.
AS for the major channels, CJ Media,
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
(ABC), Walt Disney Korea, BBC Global
Channels of Britain, and France
Television TV5 will create a PR hall displaying multimedia content.
Special seminar with Jacques
Attali, intellectual of modern
France
Jacques Attali, called the greatest
scholar alive in France, will be making a
special speech on June 13. At the seminar, Attali, a futurologist, will present the
main values that the modern people who
live in the omnipotent era of mobile communication and the Internet must not
overlook. He will be lecturing on the topics
of the changes of the viewers in the digital
era, media fusion and the future, and the
missions and tasks of the media industry for
two hours.
Discussions on competitiveness
It is forecast that much more diverse topics will be discussed this year than in previous years. The issues to be discussed
include ways for cable TV channels to
make a leap forward and become specialized media companies and plans to empower the corporate competitiveness of cable
enterprises.
The desirable reorganization of the
media market following the introduction of
Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) and the
directions for the improvement of the fusion
policies will be presented. Intensive discussions will be held on the meaning of allowing the combined sales of dominant enterprises, its spreading effects, the mutually
crossing entry into triple play services and
the balance of regulations. Policy proposals
on facility utilization, including the neutrality of the network, will be followed.
Cultivating program provider
content
The fostering of content in the multiplatform era, and the plans for their utilization, will be looked into. Also to be discussed is the need to enact The Special Law
To be presented at the exhibition are the
direction to streamline the middleware for
an integrated DMC and a roadmap on the
set top box according to the development of
digital technologies. On the discussion
agenda are the development status of new
solutions, such as Downloadable
Conditional Access Systems (DCASs) and
CableHome, and the outlook for their adoption. Administration Director Han Woonyoung of the Korea Digital Cable
Laboratories (KLabs) will be the speaker
and representatives of Korea's major multiple system operators (MSO), and set top
box and computer-based automation systems enterprises will be attending as panelists.
With the recent rise in the number of
cable operators listed on the stock market,
external experts are evaluating the appropriate values of Korean system operators and
program providers. Leading analysts and
investors home and abroad will attend as
panelists, and they will introduce successful
cases of IPOs and their positive spreading
effects.
casts for, broadband transmission services,
including fiber to the home and optical
LANs will be examined. The issues of
introducing pre-DOCSIS and standardizing
DOCSIS 3.0 and the forecasts on the future
outlook after the commercialization will be
discussed. The plans to introduce the QPS,
which is an evolved version of the cable
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) terminals, will also be discussed.
Cable TV's Visions and strategic tasks
On the first day, June 13, an open forum
will proceed on the main subject of visions
and strategic tasks of cable TV in the digital
era of opening up and fusion. The forum
will center on the future of digital technologies and the media, the content industry in
the era of liberalized broadcasting through
free trade agreements, and the future visions
and the strategic tasks of the cable industry.
President and CEO Suh Byung-moon of the
Korea Culture & Content Agency
(KOCCA), CEO Choi Hwi-yeong of NHN,
CEO Lee Kwan-hoon of CJ CableNet,
President and CEO Kim Mun-yeon of
Channel J, and Vice President Lee Banghyung of SKT will attend as main panelists.
Study on the effects of cable TV
advertising
The causes behind the low rating of only
the advertising effects at a time when the
media power of cable TV is increasing will
be analyzed along with discussion on countermeasures. The need for transparent data
on advertisement and empirical methods to
animate cable TV advertising will also be
discussed. The plans to measure appropriate advertising effects in accordance with
the changes in the digital environment will
be sought after, too.
The present situation of, and the fore-
KCTA Exhibition & Conference 2006
Microsoft Imagine Cup 2007
IT Olympics
Software
Competition
Imagine a world where technology enables a better education for all
T
he IT Olympics Imagine Cup, hosted by Microsoft, will be held on
August 5 to 10, 2007 in Seoul,
Korea. In other words, the Imagine Cup is
the best software competition rally which is
held every year with students over 16 years
old throughout the world as its participants.
The Cup has been held yearly since the
year 2003 under the auspices of
Microsoft, hosting its fifth rally in 2007
under way. Microsoft Korea officials
said: "As the sole student software technology competition rally with the entire
world as its object, participants and participating country numbers are increasing
with a fast speed every year."
Imagine Cup's themes are follows
according to these officials: "Imagine a
world where technology connects people,
information, systems, and devices.
Imagine a world where smart technology
makes everyday life easier. Imagine a
world where technology dissolves the
boundaries between us. Imagine a world
where technology enables us to live healthier lives." To date, Imagine Cup has been
held in Spain, Brazil, Japan and India. It
has grown from 12,000 people, to 30,000,
50,000, and finally 68,000 each year.
Imagine Cup's competitions include
software design, embedded development,
web development, information technology, algorithms, short films, interface and
photos. First of all, software design is a
competition in which students compete
against each other's creativity and technology power while presenting their solution
about a problem they think as the most
challenging task by using software technology. Based on themes Imagine Cup
presented, participants have to submit a
creative, realistic, and useful software
application. By using Microsoft's development tools and technology, competition
participants must manufacture new software application programs which can
demonstrate each person's idea, intellectual curiosity, and talent. Participants have
Director Park Nam-hee, developer and
platform evangelist, Microsoft Korea
and more small-sized and convenient to
carry, this exerts a big influence on our
daily life. Here, there is an opportunity to
acquaint oneself creativity widely and to
be able to change the world. Embedded
development is a competition which tests
the ability to embed a perfect hardware
and software solution by using Windows
CE and offered hardware.
Third, the web has reestablished ways
through which people acquire information,
learn and organize. People come to have
an endless opportunity which can
approach to even more ideas, intellectual
curiosity, and topics of conversation. Web
development competition part asks students to make an innovative education site
for people using ASP.NET-related tech-
nologies. Web paves the way for a totally
new sphere and educational possibility.
Fourthly, the information technology
competition vies necessary technology and
science in developing IT systems that are
more safe and stable, unfolding, and maintaining. In most cases, IT experts have to
understand how to solve user demands
with basic tools and technology and further, how to compose so that all parts can
be harmonized and operated well. These
things are commonly indispensable technologies so that all coffee shops, business
environments, universities and even
restaurants may be operated successfully.
Information technology demands skilled
ability from the students not only in dealing with data bases and servers, but also up
to analyzing the IT environment.
Algorithms is a competition which contends with individual problem solving abilities. Appropriate algorithm discovery and
usage, wise embodiment and application
are necessary items. The participants will
be required to solve a series of problems
such as difficult brain teasers and puzzles.
The short film competition combines
art and science to unfold a story.
Competition participants have to express
their opinion about Imagine Cup's theme
and express themselves by using media.
From concept and story board up to film
manufacturing and editing, participants
must understand all these things and make
a deep impression on the audience.
Original interpretation and creativity are
A 'Fingercode system', which allows audiovisual teaching and general communication
for the handicapped
demanded and powerful goals and meaning must be held through digital media.
Designers and developers provide a
new experience and break established
thinking by manufacturing excellentlydesigned user interfaces. The interface
design competition asks designers all over
the world to manufacture inherent, futureoriented, useful and competitive user interfaces. Participants must forge a dream
application in connection with Imagine
Cup's theme and have to show how their
technology applies such application to real
life. Creative and future-oriented, innovative interface is this competition's goal.
Sejong University Team to compete in a runoff of the Imagine Cup 2007
Microsoft Korea CEO Yoo Jae-sung
to show such innovation on the .NET
Framework and Windows platform,
Microsoft officials said.
As all sorts of gadgets become more
In a runoff of the upcoming August
Imagine Cup 2007, the Sejong University
team from Korea will contend with world
participants. Sejong University's EN#
605 team comes to compete with a
Fingercode system which allows one to
do audio-visual teaching for the handicapped and enables communication
between the general public and the handicapped. In step with this year's Imagine
Cup 2007 theme the EN# 605 team said
that they felt keenly the necessity of
developing this fingercode system so that
the handicapped can receive smoothly
audio-visual teaching.
Professor
Noh
Yong-Deok,
Department of Computer Engineering at
Sejong University who guides this team,
praised: "Students' passion about computers is considerable and they are
preparing diligently for English presentations in preparation for the upcoming
August Imagine Cup Seoul rally." EN#
605 team students from Sejong
University said: "This simultaneous
Braille interpretation system for the
handicapped in terms of audio-visual
teaching is possible to be commercialized
in the future." They have committed
themselves to win first place by preparing even more so that the team can gain
better fruit in the upcoming August Seoul
Imagine Cup to raise Korea's standing to
the world.
Analysis
Korea Adapting?
by Laura Sultan
[email protected]
E
xiting out of
Jonggak
Station,
turning right, and
walking into the
buzz that is any
major subway station
in downtown Seoul, one may walk
right past the large Bandi and Looni's
Bookstore that sits in the heart of the
subway station. Its position primarily
fulfills a more aesthetic desire than a
practical, come-look-over-here
impact on a potential customer, but it
does receive the busy-person's attention. What a typical passer-by may
not know, though, is that an Apple
Reseller sits right under the escalator
of the famous bookstore chain in
Korea.
In my first article, I discussed how
Korea has seemed to ignore the growing global dependency and market
demand for Macintosh computers. I
supported this idea by mentioning
there were only two Macintosh
Computer Stores within Korea at that
time, and one was less than a year
old. I also mentioned the benefits of a
Macintosh computer very quickly,
such as the immunity to the current
viruses designed to primarily for
Window operating systems.
I followed this introductory argument with my second article that
highlighted the non-Macintosh
friendly Internet problem within
Korea. In that article, the highlights
were how, only last year the group
Open Web Korea threatened a lawsuit
on the South Korean government if
they did not make the internet friendly for Macintosh users. This change
entailed not only fixing minor web
pages, such as Naver, but also the
main government's interactive web
pages for citizens, through altering
the Korean internet's dependency
only on ActiveX controls. Luckily,
this change did occur and currently, it
is only blogs such as CyWorld that do
not make friendly relations with
Macintosh computer operating systems.
So, where now? As of one year
ago, the technology Korea depended
on subsisted of computer systems
hostile towards working with
Macintosh, object-oriented operating
systems. But today, this seems to be
changing. Is it true that Korea could
change so much in one year that it has
begun down the an effective
Macintosh technological adaptation
road?
The answer is YES. Within this
last year, the popularity and awareness of Macintosh has risen in the
Korean computer market. Four or
more new Macintosh stores have been
built within Seoul within the last few
months, one within the month or so.
In addition, having spoken to a
few readers of Korea IT Times, I have
been repeatedly told that Koreans are
interested in learning more about the
foreign, US-based computer item.
Most Koreans have mentioned that
they have seen the computer in many
American movies, and desire to learn
about the different operating system.
Other Koreans, of course, have
pointed out the negative aspects of a
Macintosh computer. These complaints range from the lack of updates
to keep Macintosh as an active competitor on the computer market to not
having ActiveX controls already
installed in the computer when
bought. The truths of these issues
are, though, that only within Korea
have Macintosh users been facing
problems. These problems are primarily still due to Korea's computer
technology not developing Macintosh
compatibility quick enough to satisfy
some Korean Macintosh users.
Macintosh has remained competitive
on the global computer market, with
programs such as the 2005 release of
the dual operating system Mac which
also supports Windows. In addition,
most Macintosh computer users have
already installed the Firefox web
browser, a free installation from
Mozilla which possesses the needed
Active X technology to function on
many Korean websites.
Even though some Korean people
still dislike the idea of a Macintosh
integrated computer society, most
Koreans that I have spoken to support
the idea or are at least curious about
the possibility. Within the last few
months, the Macintosh computer has
transformed from an item that no one
in Korea knew much about to a buzzword that people are researching on
the internet. If people continue to
remain curious and interested in the
object-oriented
computer operating system, the
"balli balli"
mentality of
Korea will
force
the
nation's computer technological society to soon
adapt and integrate the once foreign
object.
Global Match Making
Channelfocused
Security
in
Korean
Market
GFI family in Australia office
"Furthermore," he continued, "few of the
biggest Korean manufactories in world such
as Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and the SMB
companies who required the tools to manage and monitor their confidential data,
based on the network and email servers --
by Chun Go-eun
[email protected]
this is a potential of the market, as GFI provides such software to fulfill their needs."
Apart from Korea, GFI also focuses to
branch out to China, Hong Kong,
Singapore, Malaysia, India, Taiwan, Japan,
Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines and
Indonesia. The company aims to collaborate with software distributors and resellers
in these countries to provide sales and technical support to their end users, which will
eventually lead to a mutually beneficial that
he refers to as a "win-win partnership."
Kent Cheong, business development manager of GFI
G
FI is a leading software developer
that provides a single source for
network administrators to address
their network security, content security and
messaging needs. With award-winning
technology, an aggressive pricing strategy
and a strong focus on small to medium
sized businesses, GFI is able to satisfy the
need for business continuity and productivity encountered by organizations on a global
scale. Founded in 1992, the company has
offices in Malta, London, Raleigh, Hong
Kong, Adelaide, Hamburg and Cyprus
which support more than 200,000 installations worldwide. It is a channel-focused
company with over 10,000 partners
throughout the world.
GFI has a strategic partnership with
Microsoft - it is a Gold Certified Partner and
a member of various limited access
Microsoft groups such as the Exchange
Server JDP program. Microsoft has presented the company with the Winning on
Windows Award and the Microsoft Fusion
award.
Kent Cheong, a business development
manager, introduced his company as a professional company that has been partnered
with few software distributors and system
integrators in Korea. Kent introduced:
"Currently, we have around 10 partners in
Korea and these partners are mainly focused
on the network security and messaging markets, to provide services to their end users in
terms of sales and technical support. As a
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, we are
mainly focused on the Microsoft-based
market -- the Windows platform, MS
Exchange or MS ISA users."
GFI is currently looking for software
resellers and distributors in the vibrant high
margin network security and messaging
software markets. "We provide partnership
program to our resellers," Kent continued,
"to match GFI's award-winning technology
and attractive pricing. Its objective is to
enhance their business growth, profitability
and market leadership. All partners will
obtain unparalleled support by GFI, and to
enhance our partnership, GFI will invest
more to top contributing partners who are
committed to deliver business results."
Kent shares with us about a successful
case of the business relationship GFI has
built so far with other companies.
"Softmate Co. and Man Technology Ltd.
are the success stories which I would like to
mention here," he said. "Softmate Co. is a
technical consulting company who has been
partnered with GFI since 2006. They provide technical services to resellers and end
users during the stages of pre and post sales.
"Man Technology is a solution developer which has been partnered with GFI since
2005 and has localized one of the GFI products, GFI MailArchiver, into the Korean
language. This is GFI's first product which
provides a Korean interface and Man
Technology has integrated MailArchiver
within the company's own technology to
enhance the adaptability to the Korean system environment."
When thrown a question of his perspective on Korean IT and its market, Kent
replied: "In my point of view, Korea is a
dynamic and attractive market for the software developer. The end users create a very
sensitive market trend -- especially in IT
field. GFI is a market leader thanks to its
ability to innovate and adopt key technologies early on. For example, GFI
MailEssentials was the first server-based
anti-spam software to include Bayesian filtering. GFI MailSecurity was the first software to tackle the email security problem
more aggressively via its exploit checking
and Trojan checking features. GFI
FAXmaker led the way with its seamless
email and network integration. GFI
LANguard N.S.S. proved revolutionary in
the security scanning market. GFI holds
several patents pertaining to network and
email security."
People & Events
Chungcheongbuk-do Investment
Seminar
New Paradigm of Aviation
Industry
Chungcheongbuk-do held the
province's investment attraction
explanation meeting on May 8 at
Seoul
Grand
Hyatt.
Chungcheongbuk-do is the
gateway to the administration
oriented complex city with the
well-linked
transportation
network of highways, Osong
Station and lattice structured
highways, so any region of the
Governor Chung Woo-taik, nation is reachable within 2 hours.
Chungcheongbuk-do
Besides, with the axis of Osong
and Ochang Industrial Complexes,
the province possesses the nation's top brands of information
technology, biotechnology, high tech industries, the best land
condition for industrial use and abundant quality human
resources.
On these foundations, Chungcheongbuk-do is the best place to
do business, where high tech industries such and the pure
environment are beautifully harmonized; where creative and
dynamic economic activities are secured under the best location;
and where men of industry are respected, said governor Chung
Woo-taik in the seminar.
As the project of constructing the Economic Special Province,
Chungbuk is gradually realizing, Chungcheongbuk-do is facing its
innovative turning point, from which it can take-off to a new stage.
Under the theme New
Paradigm of Aviation Industry:
Incorporating Diversity and
Dynamics, the 2nd ACI AsiaPacific Regional Assembly
Conference & Exhibition was
held from May 21st to the 24th,
2007 at Seoul Grand Hyatt.
The
Airports
Council
International is an advisory
organization to the United
Incheon International Airport Nations formed to foster progress
President Lee Jae-hee
in the world aviation industry by
promoting
exchange
and
cooperation between airports around the world. It consists of a
general world headquarters and five regional bodies in Europe,
North America, Asia, Central America, and Africa.
Incheon International Airport President Lee Jae-hee said:
"The 2nd ACI Asia-Pacific Regional Assembly Conference &
Exhibition will serve as a springboard for the future of aviation
industry, allowing us to construct a network between members
and to exchange new ideas."
EOS Hits Seoul Street
Volkswagen Korea launched the new EOS model, a hardtop
convertible model for the four seasons on June 4th at Garden Place,
Kwangwhamoon, Seoul.
Through the launch of EOS which is definitely differentiated
from established hardtop convertible models, Volkswagen Korea is
expecting to create a great sensation at home like in Europe.
In terms of safety as well, EOS pursues perfection, cutting off
from all danger elements which can occur in convertible models.
Yepp T9 Dungeon Fighter
Special Edition
Samsung Electronics announced Yepp T9 Dungeon & Fighter
Special Edition, holding its product announcement ceremony on May
2 at Coex Intercontinental Seoul.
Yepp comes to be sold with 10,000 MP3 players, according to
officials who are responsible for its marketing. For MP3 Player
considerably exceptionally, Dungeon and Fighter's characters were
adopted as design of product package.
T9 Dungeon & Fighter Special Edition offers users with diverse
contents such as each character's image and cartoon, and game
moving-image by fitting in Yepp, according to those officials.
Pleasant Wings to Vietnam and
Indochina
As part of the commemorating events for the 15th Anniversary
of diplomatic ties between Korea and Vietnam, Vietnam Airlines
held a presentation with the title Pleasant Wings to Vietnam and
Indochina on May 22 at Lotte Hotel Seoul. Mr. Le Hoang Dzung,
General Manager, Vietnam Airlines-Korea, said: "Economically,
Korea is one of the five investment attraction goal countries and in
that regard, we are proud of the fact that Vietnam Airlines serves
as a bridge, which links bilateral exchange."
The presentations consisted of speech by Ambassador Pham
Tien Van of Vietnam in Korea, speech by chairman of Korea
Tourism Association, presentation of Vietnam Airlines, and dinner
with Vietnam traditional performance.
Currently, Vietnam Airlines is operating 16 flights per week
and is helping Korean passengers communicate by allowing at
least one Korean stewardess to board.
Housing Sphere: '07 Raemian Style
Following recent its Housing Sphere presentation regarding
'07 Raemian Style for foreign journalists, Samsung
Engineering & Construction Raemian Gallery invited the
Seoul Correspondent Club members to its Gallery at noon on
June 15 so that foreign journalists can experience the most
state-of-the-art future life space and the latest IT technology
firsthand, based on nature-friendly technology.
President & CEO Lee Sang-dae, Samsung Engineering &
Construction said: "The Company operates a residence
experience pavilion so that visitors can experience firsthand
Korea's dwelling technology and design."
Media Big Bang
Under the theme Media Big
Bang, the Seoul Digital Forum
2007 was held on May 29 to 31 at
Sheraton Walker Hill Seoul. The
media industry today is at the
center of a revolutionary change.
So much so that it would be no
exaggeration to refer to it as the
Media Big Bang according to Ha
Kum-loul, Chief Executive
Secretary, Seoul Digital Forum.
"Amidst
unprecedented
Ha Kum-loul, Chief
development
of
technological
Executive Secretary, Seoul
capabilities and explosive
Digital Forum
proliferation of networks, the media
as understood in the traditional sense is being challenged and the
frontier that once delineated this unique industry is becoming far
less clear. New players have emerged and existing industries that
were distinctly different are converging rapidly," Ha added.
These ripples of change are not limited to industries.
Its impact is felt in politics, society and the economy. History
has taught us that change in the media ultimately changes our
world. Now with the Korea-US FTA, the Korean media market
will be faced with challenges heretofore unbeknownst to it.
20th Anniversary of KAIT
establishment
Hong Kong Travel Mission 2007
Hong Kong Travel Mission 2007 held a Gala Dinner for
Korean travel business circles on May 29 at Lotte Hotel Seoul.
The Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB) will launch the 2007
Hong Kong Shopping Festival from 30 June to 31 August to
tie in with the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, according to Hong
Kong Tourism Board in Seoul.
With phenomenal support and a host of special offers and
privileges from different sectors, the Festival is set to offer
visitors an unforgettable shopping experience.
The HKTB said that the mega summer shopping promotion,
which is organized by the HKTB for the sixth consecutive
year, has become a firm fixture on the city's events calendar.
"Over the past years, our Festival has gained tremendous
support from the retail, catering and tourism-related sectors,"
officials responsible for marketing from HKTB remarked.
KAIT chairman Lee Ki-tae
On the occasion of the 20th
Anniversary of the establishment of the
Korea Association of Information &
Telecommunication, Chairman Lee Kitae held its commemorating function on
May 22 at the Westin Chosun Seoul.
The commemorating ceremony
consisted of time capsule enshrinement
ceremony, the Association 20 year
history introduction, and congratulating
performance and propose toast.
Lee has committed himself to do its
more best for the domestic IT technology
development to lead the world.
Expert Column
Particle Accelerators,
Favorite of Nanotechnology Age
Ion beam technology:
atomic unit processing possible
Chai Jong-seo,
director / principal
researcher of KIRAMS
I
This is the fourth of a six part series on medical cyclotrons which provide
radioisotopes for positron emission tomography, a cancer diagnostic tool -- Ed.
on beam application technology
which utilizes low energy middle
particle accelerator is a basic technology of diverse fields such as basic science, life science, material science, energy, semiconductor, medical treatment,
chemistry industry, and defense with new
research and means.
Ion beam technology is being developed into both fields of focused ion beam
technology (FIB) and broad-beam technology (BIB). A focused ion beam technology is a super minute processing technology which processes mainly with
from several tens to several hundred
nanometers in size. The broad-beam
technology is an industrial application
technology which has been used for 20
years in semiconductor, aerospace, medical treatment and atomic energy fields.
Currently lithography, ion beam evaporation and ion beam milling technology
use ion beams indispensably in the semiconductor manufacturing process. In
recent years, non-semiconductor field
application research has also picked up.
Simple ion beam etching, activated
ion beam etching, chemical ion beam
etching, ion beam evaporation, and ion
beam investigation processes are representative application process of ion beam
technology. As for staple application
fields, it is being very diversely industrially applied in ring laser gyroscope mirrors and heads, optical instruments, ultraviolet ray detectors, microwave mingling
technology, semiconductor equipment,
by Chai Jong-seo
polymer film and diamond coating.
As research and development of semiconductors, life science, and materials
science is extended to a molecular or an
atomic level since the latter half of the
21st century, detecting or concocting
those things are coming to the front as an
indispensable tool for research and
development in the future. Ion beam
technology is appropriate to such
demands as it is a technology through
which atomic processing is possible.
On March 2003 the US government
embarked on ion beam investigation
technology
for
manufacturing
lightweight aluminum compound materials to be second to steel's intensity and
durability according to National
Nanotechnology Initiative Development
Plan under the influence of the US
Department of Energy (DOE) according
to the March 2003 Journal of Metals.
Already in the beginning of the 21st
century, the Nikkan Kogyo Shimbun also
has forecast the extension of the ion
beam accelerator market to rapidly
extend 10.1% by US$2.1 billion from the
year 2001, based on The Equipment
Market and Technology Trend from
1996 through 2001, announced by the
US VLSI Research.
In addition, Japan's Ministry of
International Trade and Industry has
foreseen to develop a super thin film ion
beam processing technology which will
overcome a boundary of 0.1 by 2004.
What's more, the Ministry has forecast
that this process would serve as a certainly necessary technology for producing
the extreme high density accumulation
chip, according to the December 1007
EE Times.
Japan Atomic Energy Research
Institute has succeeded in developing
MOS-model transistor whose speed is
fast and electrical consumption is small,
by applying ion investigation technology.
Rutgers University research team has
also developed high efficiency's silicon
nitride silicon chip, which is bigger 100
times than existing one in terms of electricity auto's usage electric power density. It is also 100 times less in terms of
electric power consumption, according to
October 1998 LA Times.
Ion beam technology is being intensively developed in an educationalindustrial-laboratorial collaboration program by teaming up with Wisconsin
University, Los Alamos National Labs,
and General Motors under the supervision of the US Department of Energy. In
particular, along with nanotech device
development, international technology
development competition is becoming
fiercer in the coming years.
A focused ion beam technology can
process 0.1 right now and in principle
there is not any boundary of processing.
Accordingly, accelerator science technicians are allowing the processing ability
to be the extreme miniaturized continuously to an atomic level by developing
surrounding equipment technology.
Japan JAEA's micro beam equipment
England Gray Cancer Institute's micro beam equipment
Photos which investigate micro ion beam to a cell
Precision micro beam equipment is being
used actively for the development of
nano-scale biotechnology, whose valueadd is very high right now.
Middle-ion's microscopic or
nanoscopic ion beam investigation
equipment is excellent in improving
diverse material's features. However,
since its equipment is expensive and
complex, it is being delayed to apply to
other high-value industry circles besides
semiconductor processing. Thanks to
low-price equipment development
through the simplification of equipment
and processing gradually, non-semiconductor field industry application research
also is being briskly attained.
In a nutshell, ion beam equipment technology is the core technology field of
Particle accelerator technology. A particle
accelerator technology is the core complex
Targeting minuteness degree
Micro beam equipment concept map
technology in which ion beam acceleration, investigation, and diagnosis technology are combined. Thus, it has been recognized as a technology whose operation is
difficult besides the fact that its facility
investment expense costs much.
Ion beam technology is one of the
core technologies to usher the cuttingedge industry age of the 21st century,
which is being used comprehensively
from basic research such as medical
treatment, electronics, precision measurement, information, life science, new
material, energy, semiconductor, material processing, and nano-scale engineering up to industry.
For quality improvement and industrial large-quantity production processing
development, it is absolutely necessary to
secure technology which can minimize
ion beam equipment price.
A particle accelerator, which contributed decisively to basic science
development such as nuclear physics of
the 20st century, and elementary particle
physics, is widening its utilization scope
for medical treatment and for industry.
On the occasion of the nano era in
which each science technology demands
a molecule and a atomic unit's inquiry
and manupulation in the 21st century,
accelerator's role is most of all important
for the sake of a atomic unit's investigation and manupulation.
Especially, a molecule accelerator
technology in the medical treatment field
is developing to the future-oriented convergence technology of a new concept,
which converged with surrounding technology like the combination of accelerator and robot, and IT accelerator.
Financing
Integrated Capital Market Law
Tasks to develop Korean financial industry
by Choi Ho-sang
[email protected]
Choi Ho-sang,
chief researcher at Samsung Economic
Research Institute
T
he backgrounds behind the pursuit of
an integrated capital market law -- a
law related to the financial investment industry and the capital market -- to go
into effect in 2008, are to establish a regulation system that can flexibly respond to the
rapidly changing conditions of the financial
market and to overcome the limitations of
the current financial regulation system.
Recently, the competition in financial markets all over the world has been intensifying. The work distinction among banks and
securities companies and the limitations of
their business entry have been disappearing.
Due to the advancement of information
technology, the business conditions of the
financial market have been changing. Also,
financial institutions are being integrated as
can be seen in the case of financial holding
companies. Accordingly, it has become
necessary to improve the regulation system
so that it can better respond to such a
change.
It can be evaluated that above anything
else the integrated capital market law is a
plan for seeking the invigoration of the
Korean capital market. The development of
a capital market that can smoothly perform
the financial mediator function for promis7 4 _ June 2007 KOREA IT TIMES
ing venture companies and the like is very
important from the perspective of cultivating new dynamic industries for national
growth. In addition, the dominance of
colossal banks and financial holding companies has been strengthened, and the foreign capitals that have acquired Korean
financial institutions have embarked on full
scale business expansions. In such surroundings, the development of the capital
market is important for strengthening the
competitiveness of the financial industry
itself, too.
In the future, it is expected that when the
establishment of large-scale financial
investment companies like Goldman Sachs
and Merrill Lynch becomes visible in
Korea, the financing of business enterprises
will move from the one that centers on indirect financing by the existing commercial
banks to financing by large-scale financial
investment companies. Through this, the
smooth mediation functions in support of
innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises and venture companies will be promoted more. And there is a high probability
that, through the invigoration of mergers
among the non-banking financial institutions, the aggrandizement of secondary
financial institutions in Korea will take
place in earnest. However, there are some
potential elements limiting the growth of
financial investment companies. These are
the overheated competition among financial
services, the competitiveness gap with
prominent overseas investment banks, the
poor management of large-scale investment
banks and its subsequent transfer to financial system risks and the insufficient expertise of investment banking services.
As a result, policy support must be pro-
vided for a certain period for large-scale
financial investment companies to grow. At
the same time, a strategy must be laid out to
make financial services up to a certain high
standard, including the training of professionals for the development of advanced
financial products and services. In addition,
it is important to improve the financial
supervision function to strengthen the
soundness of large-scale financial investment companies. Concerning the economic
effects resulting from the implementation of
the integrated capital market law, focus
should be placed on the development of the
whole financial industry, and not limited
aspects of an individual financial sector.
For this, the interest clashes among related
businesses must be considered. In the
medium to long term, there is a need to
unfold policies that can suffice both the
development and stability of the financial
industry at the same time.
Essay
Blue Horizon of Digital Hallyu VI
Digital Network Knowledge Country
Theory to expand digital territory in the US China polarization era
The following is the last in a six-part series of articles contributed by Cho Yong-joon,
executive director, division of public relations & projects of the Korea Agency for
Digital Opportunities and Promotion (KADO) --Ed.
Cho Yong-joon, executive director,
Division of Public Relations and
Projects of the KADO
N
ew fights among superpowers have
already begun to secure Central
Asia, which is newly emerging as a
resource rich region.
Former Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi visited Kazakhstan on
August 28 last year, shortly before his
retirement. It was the first visit to the country by a Japanese prime minister. What
made the Japanese leader visit Kazakhstan?
The right answer is uranium.
Kazakhstan is the world's third biggest producer of uranium with about 30 percent of
the total uranium reserves and the seventh
largest producer of oil at 100 billion barrels
a year. This fact attracts a number of leaders of the world to Astana, the capital of
Kazakhstan.
Faced with an era of high oil prices,
nuclear power generation is stealing the
spotlight from the world again as alterna- battlefield without gunshots. The competitive energy. Many advanced countries tion of superpowers to secure Central Asia
such as China, Russia and Japan plan to will be fiercer than ever before.
In addition to its rich energy and
increase the number of nuclear power
resources, Central Asia is a wide land of
plants in several years.
For instance, China plans to additionally about 4 million square kilometers, about 18
build 30 nuclear power plants by 2020, times that of the Korean Peninsula.
Accordingly, Korea needs to make
India 17 plants by 2012, and Russia 20
Central Asia, including Iran, Kazakhstan,
plants by 2020. Besides that Germany,
France, Italy and Finland faced an energy Uzbekistan, a new Blue Ocean by creating
the feeling of solidarity.
crisis owing to Russia's stoppage of gas
supply early last year. Because of this they
are all making a strong push for construction of additional nuclear power plants.
From Silk Road to digital road
Under this situation, the price of uranium
jumped by 300 percent over recent years.
Fortunately, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
Delivering the 2006 State of the Union are now busy building information infrasaddress, President George Bush said that tructure. Kazakhstan has been constructing
the United States is addicted to oil and he an optical fiber state information expressplanned to reduce US dependency ratio on way under its three-year plan to modernize
Middle East-produced oil by more than 75 communication networks since 2004.
percent by 2025. To
reduce the dependency
ratio, the US should
raise the dependency
ratio on nuclear power
plants and diversify oil
import sources.
Like this, it is very
clear that an era of fossil fuel being drained
will make new climate
in relations of international dynamics.
Central Asia is a DOF 2006 Seoul Conference, held under the auspices of KADO
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan plans to build
networks linking all areas of the country
under its ambitious plan to foster the information and communication industry from
2002 to 2010 in an effort to revive its past
glory of the Silk Road as a hub connecting
Europe and Asia.
The Korean government extended 16.3
billion won (US$17.6 million) in EDCF
loans to Kazakhstan for its informatization
project. Since 1998, IT cooperation
between Korea and Kazakhstan and Korean
IT companies' advancement into
Kazakhstan has begun.
In particular, Korea's WiBro, which
combined Internet and mobile communication, is the most suitable technology for
Kazakhstan, which has a population of 15
million and owns land equivalent to 27
times the size of Korea.
Uzbekistan also recognizes Korea as its
biggest partner for economic development
projects, including natural resources.
Korea is the second largest trading country
for Uzbekistan, following Russia.
Moreover, Uzbekistan has been sticking to
its position to exclude Western companies
from its resources development projects as
much as possible. It is because Uzbekistan
hopes to receive Korea's know-how in economic development.
Conclusion
The Silk Road of today calls for new
attention. The Silk Road links Busan,
Mongolia, Moscow and Dubai in United
Arab Emirates. It is a giant economic bloc
surpassing the European Union (EU) or
North America.
The Central Asian region into which
Silk Road penetrates is a new Blue Ocean.
In other words, Korea's WiBro and digital
multimedia broadcasting (DMB) could be
called Digital Money.
Mongolia is a good example. A communication network is very important for
Mongolia as its land is 7.4 times the size of
the Korean Peninsula and 30 percent of its
2.8 million people live in its capital
Ulaanbaatar. The remaining people are
scattered across the country.
It is a very difficult thing for Mongolia
to connect such wide land with wire communication networks. Even if it is connected with mobile communication, the information gap will still remain as the country's
major problem to solve owing to difficulties in access and use of Internet.
However, Korea's WiBro can solve the
Mongolia's information gap easily as
WiBro enables use of Internet in almost all
regions with setup of relay centers.
WiBro was adopted as an international
standard at the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE) at the end of
last year.
The dream of most people in the Middle
East, Latin America and Africa is to drive
Hyundai Motor cars, call with Samsung
mobile phones and use LG refrigerators and
air conditioners. Likewise, commercialization of WiBro and DMB will be the dream
of people in the world in the near future.
Now, Korea is facing a good chance as
it has created a leading digital technology
that could create global demands. Among
OECD countries, South Korea ranked first
in terms of the contribution ratio of IT to
exports. The nation also secures the
world's top position in terms of the IT contribution to domestic economic growth.
Korea's
total
exports rose by 119
percent
from
US$129.7 billion in
1995 to US$284.4
billion in 2005. In
the meantime, the
nation's IT exports
skyrocketed from
US$38.4 billion in
1996 to more than
US$100 billion.
The portion of IT
industry to total
exports also rose by
6.3 percentage points
from 29.6 percent in
1995 to 35.9 percent
in 2005.
The trade balance of the IT industry
expanded from US$15.2 billion in 1995 to
US$48.4 billion in 2005, playing a great
role in converting the trade balance of the
overall industry into a surplus.
IT exports are also predicted to have
surpassed US$113 billion in 2006, exceeding the earlier prediction of US$112.4 billion.
These records are very valuable as they
were achieved despite such difficult conditions as the won's appreciation against the
US dollar, high oil prices and a fall in unit
prices of export items following intensified
global competition.
However, it is difficult to predict whether
or not IT exports will continue an upward
trend in the future. Korea's persistent IT
growth could be possible only when Korea
leads a new change of paradigm based on
the present IT technology power that led the
world's IT flow in the past 10 years.
At the center of the change of paradigm
is Korea's conversion into a digital network
knowledge nation.
Now we should make all-out efforts to let
Korea's post horse armed with advanced digital networks dominate all over the world.
Country Report / Philippines
Manila, the capital of the Philippines, at night
genuine model for IT growth. I believe that
if we are able to successfully explore and
properly utilize our complementarities, we
will reap immense advantages by tapping
each other's synergies.
For example, South Korean companies
can invest in hardware and IT facilities in
Manila while our professionals can supply
the manpower. Filipinos are well-educated,
skilled in software development and able to
understand cultural nuances. Our graduates
can concentrate on language, design and
content as your firms focus on strategic
niche-carving and expansion.
Another area is in animation: South
Koreans have the technology; the
Philippines has a vast talent pool in this area.
Narrowing Digital Divide
The following is an interview with Susan O. Castrence, Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines, on the occasion of the 109th
Anniversary of Philippine Independence on June 12, 2007 -- Ed.
Q: Please state the significance of the
Independence Day of the Philippines on
June 12.
A: The National Day commemorates
our independence from Spanish colonial
rule. General Emilio Aguinaldo, the first
president of the Republic of the
Philippines, declared independence from
Spain on June 12, 1898 after more than
three centuries of colonization.
Susan O. Castrence, Ambassador of the
Republic of the Philippines
Q: What is your opinion regarding
mutual IT cooperation between the two
countries which could be explored in the
coming years?
A: South Korea presents a model for IT
development. South Korea is a leader in egovernance and boasts one of the highest
internet penetration rates in the world.
Because of its prominent role as an IT hub,
South Korea can play a significant role in
helping narrow the digital divide and contribute to the e-integration of the East
Asian region in both commerce and governance.
The Philippines can learn a lot from
South Korea's experience. For instance,
both nations will profit from regular people
exchanges, sharing of experiences and
technology transfers. I certainly believe
that there is ample opportunity for collaboration in the IT field in the coming years.
Q: How is the state of IT collaboration
between the two countries right now?
Are there any opportunities for Korean
IT investors?
A: IT collaboration between the
Philippines and South Korea is active, but
the further development of requisite infrastructure is perhaps the main area where
South Korea and the Philippines can closely
collaborate. The Philippines is rich in talented, multi-lingual and determined people who
easily adapt to the challenges of a globalizing
world. South Korea, meanwhile, offers a
Q: Please touch upon the Philippines'
IT policy.
A: The Philippine Department of
Transportation and Communication and
the Philippine Commission on
Information and Communications
Technology (CICT) are the two agencies
tasked to implement the country's ICT
goals. The Philippines recognizes the
high-growth potential of ICT and e-commerce. In the year 2000, the country
passed the e-Commerce Act which provides the appropriate environment for
encouraging the growth of e-commerce in
the country and mandates all government
agencies to make their services available
online.
The Information Technology and ECommerce Council has come up with the
vision of an e-Philippines - an "electronically enabled society where citizens live
in an environment that will promote
access to technologies and provide quality
education, efficient government service,
greater sources of livelihood and, ultimately, a better way of life."
According to the CICT, the ePhilippines vision is anchored on five
equally important strategies. These are to
develop the country as a world-class ICT
services provider, provide government
services to stakeholders online, provide
affordable Internet access to all segments
of the population, develop an ICT-enabled
workforce, and create an enabling legal
and regulatory environment.
The Pahiyas Festival in the Philippines, usually held in May
Q: Please touch upon the commercial
possibility in the Philippines of Korea's
IT technology and products such as
DMB & WiBro.
A: The Philippines welcomes and actually offers fertile opportunities for Korean
DMB and WiBro products. The
Philippines stands to benefit from such
technological breakthroughs because it is
an archipelago. Linking the islands in a
seamless fashion is a primary concern for
local and national governments in order to
achieve a more efficient and effective
delivery of services. The establishment of
reliable networks of communication will
also ensure a smooth and dynamic flow of
information and contribute to the creation
of an atmosphere conducive to businesses.
However, compared to South Korea,
access to infrastructure in the Philippines
is not as readily available. This is where
South Korea can come in; by helping the
Philippines first enhance its IT infrastructure, South Korea will also open doors for
investment. Many Korean companies
have already recognized this potential and
set up camp in various towns and cities
throughout the archipelago. As these ventures prove their foresight and wisdom
through the surefire returns that roll in, I
expect more will follow.
Filipinos are known to be loyal patrons
of mobile phones. With the helpful Short
Message Service, mobile phones have
gained unprecedented popularity during
the last six or seven years: the Philippines
generates one of the biggest traffic of text
messages worldwide. Perhaps as the
Philippines treads a path similar to South
Korea's and becomes more digitized, the
use of DMB and WiBro will gain greater
ground.
Q: Please forecast the Philippines' role
in Asia today.
A: The Philippines has emerged as a
veritable business and tourism destination.
Last year, 572,133 Koreans visited the
Philippines, making South Korea the
Philippines' top source of tourist arrivals
ahead of the US and Japan. This posted a
16.9% increase from 2005, when arrivals
peaked at slightly below half a million. In
January 2007, a total of 70,733 Koreans
visited the islands. Around 70,000
Koreans have decided to reside in the
Philippines permanently; most of them are
missionaries, businessmen and Koreans
married to Filipinos. Many stay for a
short-term as students or vacationers.
We have a vibrant democracy and a
free press. We are active in both regional
and multilateral organizations like
ASEAN and its related mechanisms,
APEC and WTO. I believe that as we tap
our potential and further explore our
strengths, there is no way to go but up.
Country Report / Dole
/ EU Day
Most Trusted Company in Korea
I
n succession to the naming of Dole Food
Co., Inc. as one of the World's Most
Ethical Companies in 2007, Dole Korea, a
subsidiary of Dole Food has won the Grand
Prize in Consumer Trust Awards 2007 as the
company trusted the most by Korean consumers. What this signifies is that Dole Korea
is now firmly rooted in the Korean market as a
food supplier that has won consumers' deep
trust in parallel with the company's founding
motto of "quality first, quality second, and
quality third."
The company operates a fresh food maintenance system, providing Korean consumers
with healthy, fresh products by means of refrigerated trucks, airplanes, and exclusive shipping
lines. Dole Korea's products are quickly packaged right after harvest to provide consumers
with products that are not only tasty and nutritious but also trustful. In order to supply highest
quality products that meet the consumer needs
that are changing minute by minute, the company operates its own research and development
center.
Dole Korea's strenuous efforts directed at ecofriendly and quality products are paying off with
a number of international recognitions. These
include the company winning the world's first
ISO 14001 certificate for environmental management systems in addition to the quality management ISO 9002, the food safety and superior
quality SQF2000, and one in organic agriculture.
With an aim to be reborn as a food supplier
that cares for the health of consumers, Dole
Korea has been carrying out the Healthy 5
Colors Campaign since 2004 to promote the
consumption of vegetables and fruit of five different colors five times a day. As part of this
campaign, Dole Korea regularly visits kindergartens and elementary schools in Seoul and
neighboring regions to hold an event called
Children's Cooking Class to correct the bad
eating habits of children who are accustomed
to fast foods and to promote nutritious balanced
diet. Aside from these, Dole Korea offers
opportunities to experience Dole through cooking classes in places where consumers frequently visit, such as department stores, discount chains, and children's theme parks. Also,
Dole Korea is actively seeking two-way communication with consumers. It provides information on the Healthy 5 Colors Campaign,
culinary menus and recipes, and various fruits
Peace,
Prosperity,
Stability
on its homepage for easy access by consumers.
Only through such ceaseless efforts to get closer to consumers, the company believes, Dole
Korea can be rejuvenated as a food supplier of
the freshest and highest quality vegetables and
fruit that can be trusted by the demanding
Korean consumers.
Trusted Company of Korean
Consumers in 2007
The selection of Consumers' Most Trusted
Companies for 2007 was conducted by the
Korea Economic Daily and Korean Customers'
Forum. A total of 407 companies of consumer
goods and services were reviewed for through
various means including the Internet and postcards. In the selection, consumers directly participated in the evaluation on five categories
such as the degree of trust on products and services, the trust on safeguarding consumers, and
the trust on providing transparent information.
Dole Food Company, Inc. was named one
of the World's Most Ethical Companies by
Ethisphere Magazine, a national publication
dedicated to illuminating the important correlation between ethics and profit. The elite list of
companies were recognized for their strong
leadership in ethics and compliance, advancement of industry discourse on social and ethical
issues, and positive engagement in the communities in which they operate.
"We are honored to receive this designation
from Ethisphere Magazine," said David
Murdock, chairman and chief executive officer
of Dole Food Company. "Dole takes great
pride in our corporate ethics and social responsibility. We treat all employees and business
associates with dignity and respect. Special
attention is given to safeguarding Dole employees' health, providing competitive wages and
benefits, honoring collective representation,
enhancing and empowering our communities
and protecting the environment in which we
work and live."
Ethisphere Magazine, the magazine has a
circulation of 65,000 global Board members,
CEOs, General Counsel, Chief Ethics and
Compliance Officers and institutional
investors, offers insight to on gaining market
share and creating sustainable competitive
advantage through ethical business practices
and corporate citizenship.
M
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the European
Commissioner for External Relations and
Neighbourhood Policy
ay 9, or Europe Day, is the anniversary of the Schuman
Declaration. Speaking in Paris in 1950, Robert
Schuman, then Foreign Minister of France, proposed a
new form of political arrangement for Europe, whose aim was to
make war between Europe's nations unthinkable.
His vision and foresight were confirmed earlier this year when
we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the European Union, the body
created as a result of that famous Declaration.
It has undoubtedly been a tremendous success. For fifty years its
members have enjoyed unprecedented levels of peace, prosperity
and stability.
Over the years it has evolved to be much more than a simple trading bloc coordinating members' trade policy and setting common tariffs. Today the European Union is a political and economic project
bringing together 27 European countries and over 490 million people.
Its citizens can study, work or live in another EU country with a minimum of red tape and they can enjoy health and social benefits everywhere.
Travel across Europe is increasingly passport-free and the majority of its citizens share a single currency.
The EU is active in all the areas that pose the greatest challenges to
society in the 21st century. We are a strategic partner for countries
around the world on issues as varied as international terrorism, climate change, HIV/AIDS, and resolving the world's most entrenched
conflicts. Over the past decade, the EU has played an active role in
support of wider international efforts to promote peace and stability
on the Korean peninsula. It has offered political support to the Six
Party Talks process.
Our prosperity has grown out of a particular form of regional cooperation which has developed hand in hand with a deeper commitment
to democracy, human rights and the rule of law. It is this experience,
the secret of our own success, which we seek to offer to others.
The EU is fully engaged in the multilateral trading system and consid-
ers the negotiations of the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) as its first
priority. It is only through multilateral liberalization and commonly
agreed rules that the benefit of globalization can be fully exploited. This is
particularly true for developing countries.
As a complement to that, the EU considers that bilateral liberalization of goods and services would also contribute to the strengthening of
the multilateral trading system. Therefore, the EU just launched negotiations for a series of comprehensive and high-level FTAs that would
open new markets and expand opportunities. The EU being Korea's
second largest market and Korea the fourth largest non-European trading partner for the EU the bilateral relationship can only be strengthened through such a comprehensive trade and investment agreement.
We are still developing our common European foreign policy. But
we are already the world's largest donor, providing 60% of the world's
official development assistance. The European Commission alone
gives over 7 billion Euro every year.
We aim to tackle poverty and provide humanitarian assistance
wherever it is required. We build up trading and investment partnerships. And we deploy our unique set of skills in assisting countries in
transition to ensure others benefit from our own prosperity and stability.
We believe that it's only through partnership that solutions to the
world's problems can be found. That's why we put so much value on
our relations with our partners around the globe and it's also why we
are so committed to multilateralism.
The European Union has a dense network of formal agreements and
over 130 delegations around the world to cooperate with countries on
issues like trade, energy, climate change, human rights and international
organized crime.
We are also developing police and military missions. We have
deployed over 60,000 military personnel and civilians around the world
delivering support in crisis situations in the Middle East, Africa and
post-tsunami Indonesia.
In the years ahead we will continue to work with our friends and
partners on the major issues confronting us all: climate change, energy
security, conflict resolution and managing the forces of globalization.
We will also work to promote the values we hold dear and which we
believe hold the key to our own prosperity -- respect for human rights,
democracy and the rule of law.
On this symbolic day we reaffirm the objective we set ourselves
for the next 50 years: using the achievements of the last 50 years -our wealth, peace and experience -- not only to maintain our own
standard of living, but also for the benefit of others.
Country Report / Italy
S&T Policy in Italy,
Cooperation with Korea
The following is a message from the Ambassador of Italy in Seoul, Massimo Andrea Leggeri --Ed.
T
Ambassador of Italy in Seoul, H.E.
Massimo Andrea Leggeri
he Embassy of Italy is indeed very
pleased to send this message to the
Korea IT Times on the occasion of
the 2007 Italian National Day on June 2nd,
1946. This is a day particularly important
for our Embassy in Seoul, being a day of
celebration of the excellent relationship
between Italy and Korea.
In this message I'm pleased to enhance
the Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) status of R&D and its
industrial scenario in Italy and the relevant
links existing between the two Countries.
ICT represents the forefront of a technological revolution that day by day is
changing and improving our Society and
Italy is among top Countries in the use of
internet broadband communications and
diffusion of mobile phones.
Italian ICT related activities have a
2006 market of 63.844 billion Euros
(US$86.229 billion) and the 85,600 ICT
Italian companies are around 1% of the
total Companies in our country.
The total manpower in the ICT field
represents the 3.1% of total Italian manpower and it is shared as 74.7% in service
activities, 21.1% in telecommunications
and 25.3% in manufacturing activities.
The Italian national ICT strategy is to
develop a better knowledge of scientific
and technological (S&T) aspects, and to
strengthen the technological and commercial level of the Italian productive and services system.
The Italian Government has addressed
the S&T national policy in the 2003 to
2007 period through the assessment of
new National Research Plans representing
an updated strategy in order to strengthen
scientific and technological research and
to improve the competitiveness of most
advanced industry.
ICT technologies represent one of the
ten selected priorities and the Plans foresee
three main strategic lines of action:
1. Reinforcement of the scientific
base of the country, looking for
excellence, merit, internationalization, economic growth and
making the most of human capital;
2. Strengthening the technological
level of the Italian productive
system to maintain competitiveness, focusing on ten strategic
industrial research programs
involving also the participation
of universities and research
centers;
3. Support active participation in
EU programs and in international agreements.
The 2006 Italian ICT market is represented by IT applications for about 31% of
the total market and by TLC applications
for about 69%. Specifically, the TLC market, mainly focused on mobile communication and broadband internet access,
shows a mean growth of about 2.1%,
whose higher fraction is given by the private consumer market at about 62% rather
than by the business one at about 38%.
Although about 77% of the total market
belongs to service providers, the TLC
appliances and equipment turnover market
is very meaningful and one half of it is
given by final user equipment (+5.1%
mobile phones). No mobile cell phones
are manufactured in Italy and Korean
mobile communication equipment is
largely appreciated in a relevant market of
44.9 million users of cell phones with 81.9
million of lines contracts.
The other remarkable element of the
current TLC market in Italy is the growth
of internet connections, driven by the
increasing request of broadband services:
2.57 billion connections in 2006 with a
growth of 7.5%. A great success has been
recorded in 2006 by xDSL, 8.2 million
connections in 2006, +26.5% and optical
fiber 320 thousand connections in 2006,
+8%.
Given that the two key features of the
Italian TLC market are represented by
mobile applications and broadband access,
it is very likely that in the next years users
will be more and more interested to mobile
fast internet applications, where the two
markets converge. In this context, WiMax
and WiBro technology could be a very
promising candidate for providing broadband wireless services even in rural areas,
thus overcoming the Italian digital divide
with very limited infrastructure investments. A successful test of KoreanSamsung technology has been carried out
during the last 2006 Torino Olympic
Games, but the technology spread over the
Italian Market is currently delayed by
UMTS Providers, which would like to
compete for the same market.
Among other wireless services, IP-TV
technology is maybe one of the challenges
still open, given that the operators still
reveal some problems in its market penetration. Despite of the different utilized standards -- Digital Multimedia Broadcast
(DMB) in Korea and Digital Video
Broadcasting Handheld (DVB-H) in Italy
we argue that the great experience and
advancements of Korean IP-TV technology
could find relevant opportunities by Italian
video signals providers and operators.
The government cooperation between
Italy and Korea in the ICT field is relevant and fruitful: a Memorandum of
Understanding related to bilateral ICT
cooperation has been signed last February
15, 2007 between the Korean Minister of
Honorable Rho Jun-hyong at an official
visit to Italy in October 2006 and the
Italian Minister of Communications
Honorable Paolo Gentiloni.
The total number of Italian Projects to
the past EU-FP5 Program in the specific
field of user-friendly information society
was 1055, 321 of them with Italian coordination. A similar figure is in the FP6
from 2002 to 2005, and foreseen in the
ongoing FP7.
The scientific and technological government cooperation between Italy and
Korea has a general frame in the 8th
Protocol of Cooperation Agreement for
the years 2007 to 2009 signed in Rome on
December 1, 2006.
Some active and noteworthy Projects
related to Italy-Korea R&D cooperation
in the field of ICT, are:
"Design and implementation of a 2.5
Tbit/s Optical Time Division
Multiplexing (OTDM) system" (SSSAScuola Superiore Sant'Anna,
University of Pisa / Photonic Research
Center, KIST-Korea Institute of
Science and Technology, Seoul)
Special Optical Fibers and Devices for
Photonics
Applications
in
Communications and Sensing,
Department
of
Information
Engineering, University of Padova /
Institute of Physics and Applied
Physics, Yonsei University, Seoul
Mechanism of reaction between transparent dielectric and Ag electrode in
plasma display panel using microwave
heating, Material Department,
University of Modena and Reggio
Emilia / Division Of Research Inha
University, Incheon
Design, Realization and Characterization
of Raman and Brillouin based distributed
Fiber Optic Temperature Sensors, SSSAScuola Superiore Sant'Anna University of
Pisa / School of EECS, SNU-Seoul
National University
INFINITY: INteroperable wi-FI/wimax
ConNecivITY, Electronic Engineering
Department, University of Palermo /
School of EECS , SNU-Seoul National
University
Concerning the private-industrial scenario, the status of ICT cooperation
between Italy and Korea is living a period
of important interchange. Two main
agreements have been recently established: the first one related to Samsung
Electronics and Telecom Italia and the
second one to Telit Communication and
Bellware m2m.
The first agreement refers to the
WiBro system, owned by Samsung
Electronics, in order to spread it in the
Italian Market through Telecom Italia, the
main national telecommunication
provider. The technology will allow
video calls and video communications
and data transfers with a speed of 20-30
Mbit/sec through wireless mobile
devices.
The second agreement concerns the
acquisition of the Korean Bellware m2m
Co. Ltd. by the Italian Telit
Communication S.pA., which has been
worldwide one of the first companies
having launched products containing
GSM/GPRS and GPS technologies in a
reduced space. Early last 2006 Telit promoted the worldwide smallest
GSM/GPRS unit, quad-band type.
Bellware m2m Co. Ltd. Is the world leader in the manufacturing of equipment
based on CDMA technology and devoted
to machine to machine (M2M) communication, such as mobile phones with TV
systems, cars with satellites, or airplanes
with control towers. The agreement will
enhance the excellence of the two companies and will certainly generate a new
subject in the M2M market, able to meet
now the demand of the CDMA and GSM
systems, and, in the near future, to catch
the opportunities of the new market of
WCDMA/UMTS technologies.
The Italian Embassy in Seoul considers
ICT technology as a priority in the S&T
cooperation between Italy and Korea and
as it refers to this year's events, a bilateral
conference is going to be organized early
this autumn in Seoul on the topic of
Wireless Communication. Distinguished
scientists from Seoul National University,
the University of Palermo and University
of Rome - Tor Vergata will attend the
Conference as lecturers.
Real-time News
Open Letter from Kim Moon-soo
After Returning from
an Investment Inducement
Presentation in Tokyo
I boarded a plane at 9 am and went to
Tokyo, Japan. We gave a presentation called
Invest in Gyeonggi Province to over 30 semiconductor and display firms. And then I
boarded a plane at 8 pm to return home.
Because of the tight schedule of a one-day
trip, I woke up early at dawn. I took the airplane, had my lunch and dinner ready packed
at the New Otani Hotel in Tokyo. I returned
home without taking a step outside.
I am tired, and I have a very heavy heart.
This is because the number of companies
investing in Korea has been shrinking. The
starting salary of those newly employed out
of engineering colleges in Japan is about 1.6
million won, pay that is lower than that of
Korean counterparts. Korea is less advantageous than Japan, in terms of labor costs. The
land prices, too, have gone up too much, and
they have become similar to Japan's.
The most important cause for this change
is the 30% appreciation of the Korean won in
the past three years and the end of the high
Japanese yen.
In Japan the starting salary of those who
graduated from colleges and universities has
been at a standstill for the past 10 years. On
the contrary, Korea's has been increasing by
about 5% every year. Now, the salary of
Korea has become nearly the same as that of
Japan or the wages have even been reversed.
In the last 20 years, Japan has achieved
cost reductions through painstaking efforts. It
has been accomplishing the miracle of having
factories that went abroad return home.
These days, high-rise buildings are newly
built in the city of Tokyo. College and university graduates get employed well. It is
even reported that it is hard to find men and
women of talent.
With the semiconductor and display
industries at a current state, who can and will
say that they will invest in Korea? However
much I think and ask there is no answer.
On my way back, at the waiting lounge of
the Haneda Airport, a young president of a
factory in Ansung recognized me and complained for some time, saying: "I have a lot I
want to talk with you about." He was the
president of a not so small electronics factory
which employs about 1,000 persons and
achieves total sales of 200 billion won
(US$215 million) per year. He said: "These
days, I am in a situation in which I cannot go
to sleep at night because I cannot operate a
factory in Korea at all. As the amount of
facility investment I have made is over 30 billion won [US$32 million], I cannot close
down the factory right away and go abroad.
Shouldn't the governor help?"
However, there is too little help that a governor can provide. And the government has
been saying silly things, such as factories cannot be built in the capital region, and factories
cannot exceed a certain size.
Even when there is not a factory wishing
to be housed, the government has been stopping, saying: "Don't do it." Is this a case of
anachronism?
How will our children make a living in the
future? Tonight, however much I think, no answer
comes to my mind, and I cannot go to sleep.
At dawn, May 11, 2007
Kim Moon-soo
The Provincial Governor
Gyeonggi Province
Samsung Phone
Designed by Jasper
Morrison
Samsung Electronics, a global leader of
mobile phones and telecommunication systems, and Jasper Morrison, a leading industrial designer, cooperated to create an attractive
mobile phone, the SGH-E590. The two companies announced the new product on June 4,
2007. The Samsung E590 is a perfect solution for users who want to have all of the
advanced multimedia features with eyecatching design in a hand.
Through the partnership with Jasper
Morrison, well known for his talents in various areas of industrial design, the E590 is
designed to touch customers' emotions. The
stylish E590 comes in simple contours and
clean lines which comprise this compact bar
design. True to Jasper Morrison's witty
sense, the mobile phone provides dual face;
one side features phone keypad and LCD
screen while the other side is outfitted with
dedicated camera functions.
With the sleek design, E590 is equipped
with a powerful camera functions even other
digital cameras would envy as it allows the
users to enjoy a 3.2 megapixel camera with
auto focus and half shutter. The panorama
shot feature offers an intuitive camera UI
which displays easy to use icons. Moreover,
the E590 comes with the Bean Bag, a unique
tripod which is a truly useful and portable
accessory made of a special rubberized material for maximum flexibility and grip.
"The SGH-E590 is a very pragmatic work
of art that reflects the synergy between
Samsung and Jasper Morrison. We have
teamed up to satisfy our users with high-performance technology and emotional design."
says Geesung Choi, President of Samsung's
Telecommunication Network business. He
added: "Through the partnership with
renowned designers, Samsung will strengthen our design power to bring design excellence to our customers."
The Samsung E590 is available in two
colors, noble black and snow silver, and will
be launched in Europe, China and South East
Asia in June.
Korea's Software Exports on Rise
Korea's software exports increased by 13 percent from US$1.1 billion in 2005 to US$1.3
billion in 2006, the Ministry of Information and Communication said.
The export increase rate slowed down from 43 percent in 2005 to 13 percent last year.
By item, package software exports amounted to US$120 million in 2006, IT service
exports US$610 million, and digital contents exports US$620 million. In particular, IT
exports rose by 27.6 percent last year, thanks to large companies' brisk exports.
On the other hand, the export growth rate of digital content abruptly plunged from 109 percent in 2005 to just 3 percent in 2006.
By region, software exports to China accounted for the biggest portion of 30.6 percent.
The comparable portion was 27.2 percent for exports to Japan and 21.2 percent for those to
North America.
To accelerate the nation's software exports, the ministry has decided to come out with powerful measures to strengthen global competitiveness of domestic software companies, the
spokesman said.
Wal-Mart Considers
Korea's RFID Tech
Wal-Mart is seriously considering introducing Korea's RFID technology, a director in
charge of RFID at the global company said.
Wal-Mart is now planning to set up mobile
phone or PDA-based mobile RFID-related system at its sales outlets across the world.
At present, Wal-Mart receives RFID tags
from Alien Technology and Avery Dennison
and gets RFID readers from Alien, Thingmagic,
Printronics and other companies. However, it
has no advanced technology in the mobile sector.
If Wal-Mart selects Korean technology as its
mobile RFID system, it will become a blue ocean
for domestic companies, market watchers said.
Industrial, Academic Display R&D
The government plans to launch a display R&D project where the industrial, academic and
research fields will jointly participate in September.
As part of the government's plan to develop strategic technology, the Ministry of
Commerce, Industry and Energy will pour a total of 400 billion won (US$431 million) into
the joint display R&D project over the coming five years, a ministry spokesman said.
Large enterprises, small companies manufacturing parts and equipment and research centers of universities will join hands to develop new display technology and utilize the developed technology later.
Related to this, the ministry projects to launch a model project in September this year and
enter the main project in 2009, the spokesman said.
Overseas Investment Call Center
A call center for overseas investment, established by KOTRA, opened on May 14.
The call center will provide domestic companies seeking overseas investment with
information related to investment in foreign countries free of charge, a KOTRA
spokesman said.
The information that companies can obtain free of charge from the center includes
investment-related documents, explanation about relevant laws and regulations, labor
affair-related information, remittance of foreign currencies, intellectual property rights
and withdrawal of funds.
LG Streamlines PDP Lines
LG Electronics, a major player in the global flat panel display market, announced on May
18th that it will focus production of plasma display modules on its two most advanced A2 and
A3 lines, ceasing production at its older A1 line. This move is to increase operational efficiency and to reduce costs amounting to US$22 to US$32 million annually.
By closing the A1 line, LG's 42-inch plasma display module production capacity will be reduced
from 430,000 to 360,000 units per month, the discrepancy of which was the A1 line's monthly
capacity of 70,000 units. The company's A2 and A3 lines currently produce 120,000 and 240,000
plasma display modules per month respectively, which sum up to 360,000 units per month.
This is a part of LG's ongoing efforts to improve the performance of its plasma display
panel business as a whole.
Broad Patent Licensing
Agreement
Microsoft and LG Electronics announced
in June that they have entered into a patent
cross-license agreement to further development of the companies' current and future
product lines. Microsoft has focused on patent
agreements in the recent past to develop a best
practices model for protecting intellectual
property (IP) and respecting IP rights of others
as well as building bridges with an array of
industry leaders, including consumer electronics, telecommunications and computer hardware providers.
Through this agreement, LGE will be able
to use Microsoft's patented innovations in its
products, including Linux-based embedded
devices. Microsoft will have access to LGE's
patents and will license other patents developed by LGE that are now owned by business
solutions provider MicroConnect Group. The
specific financial terms of the agreement are
confidential, but the parties are disclosing that
Microsoft will be making a net balancing payment to LGE and MicroConnect for operating
system and computer system-related patents.
LGE will be making ongoing payments to
Microsoft for the value of Microsoft patents as
they relate to Linux-based embedded devices
that LGE produces.
Real-time News
Two-calling System
Implemented at Busan Port
Busan New Port is expected to be vitalized
with Busan Port Authority (BPA) employing a
two-calling system and establishing a barge
transportation service.
Port Commissioners of BPA held a provisional meeting on May 25th and decided to
implement the Two-calling System.
Under the system, container vessels can
enjoy exemption of anchorage and entrance
fees when they call at both the current Busan
Port and Busan New Port.
The commissioners also acted on introducing the barge transportation service to link
Busan New Port with the existing Busan Port
on a regular basis.
The two-calling system will be carried out
for 2 years starting from July 1st and the
barge-shuttle service will be operated by the
end of June 2009 after selecting a private
barge operator.
BPA will also cover the loss of the barge
operator when the private operator has operation
loss of carrying 150 ~ 200 container TEU.
With implementing two-calling system, a
5,000TEU container vessel calling at both Busan
New Port and current Busan Port will save
640,000 won (US$690) on port entrance fees
and 340,000 won (US$367) on anchorage fees.
Google CEO Targets Korea
CEO of Google Eric Schmidt gave a special speech at the Seoul Digital Forum 2007
Opening Ceremony at Sheraton Grand
Walkerhill Hotel on May 30, 2007. The
forum is under the theme Media Big Bang!
Change the World, and it will be held until the
31st. The Conference includes press conferences, a mobile content award, and
Hollywood in Seoul.
CEO Eric Schmidit showed his expectations to enter the Korean market at the introduction of the keynote speech by saying: "The
reason Google came to Korea is because
Korea is a fast growing IT Industry and challenge in Korea has just begun."
Two New HSDPA Exclusive Phones
SCH-W270
SCH-W290
Samsung Electronics has been strengthening its capture of the 3G market by introducing High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) phones with diverse designs and
prices aimed at the 3G phone market of Korea that is growing quickly.
On May 24, Samsung Electronics announced that it is launching two kinds of
HSDPA exclusive phones with folder and slide designs through SKT and KTF.
The Slim Folder HSDPA Phone (SCH-W270, SPH-W2700) has employed a folder
design with the thickness of 11.9 mm, which is the thinnest among the HSDPA phones
put on the market until now in Korea.
A minimalist design has been completed by employing an integral keypad with luxurious hairlines in the compact, straight line-type folder. By using a big liquid crystal display of the size of 2.3 inches, the phone can be conveniently used for video phone conversations.
The phone supports global automatic roaming not only in Wideband Code Division
Multiple Access (WCDMA) regions but also in Global System for Mobile communication (GSM) regions. Not only that, it has loaded onto it diverse functions including a 1.3
million pixel rotating camera, an MP3, a mobile disk, and an electronic dictionary. The
phone comes in white and black, and the price is a little over 450,000 won (US$485.00).
The Compact HSDPA Phone (SCH-W290, SPH-W2900), being launched together, is
an HSDPA phone with a sophisticated sliding design with nice-looking shiny silver
chrome rims.
It has loaded onto it such functions as a 1.3 million-pixel camera, an MP3, portable
printer support and external memory. The phone comes in the colors of noble black,
magic silver and scarlet red. The price is a little higher than 400,000 won (US$431).
Especially, both products support the Universal Subscriber Identity Module (USIM)
Card, which stores financial information inside the terminal. Hence, the mobile phones
can be used as transportation cards.
Also, both support Bluetooth. Therefore, video phone conversation is possible without holding the phone. They are convenient as they support the multi-tasking that can
perform diverse functions while being engaged in video phone conversations.
An executive at Samsung Electronics said: "Through the launch of diverse HSDPA
phones, the desires of consumers who want many functions will be satisfied. In the
future, too, we will introduce products with diverse functions and designs that suit the
growth of the 3G market."
It is forecast that the 3G market of Korea will be invigorated through the launch of
HSDPA phones at diverse price ranges and with diverse designs.
Il Ponte Salutes Cuisine of
Southern Italy
Busan North Port Plans
to Dredge
Il Ponte, Millennium Seoul
Hilton's popular Italian trattoria, will host a two week-long
promotion celebrating the cuisine of Southern Italy. From
June 15th to the 30th, you'll be
able to choose from a special
menu of Southern Italian
delights, in addition to Il
Ponte's always-popular menu.
Chef Anita Bidini has chosen representative dishes from
six regions in South Italy.
From the Sicilian region, a
deep fried risotta with beef and
green peas sauce will be
served with seasonal lettuce.
From Abruzzo, Chef Bidini
has chosen grilled smoked
mozzarella served with roast
capsicum. Homemade tagliolini with little spicy prosciutto and onion sauce hails from
Molise, while bucatini with
snails in a spicy tomato sauce
comes from the Calabria
region. From Campania, panfried sea bream with black
olives, capers, pine seeds and
raisins will be served in a
tomato sauce. And last but not
least, a veal escalope top with
prosciutto and sage in a white
wine sauce will represent
Lazio.
The southern regions of Italy are characterized by a rocky and mountainous terrain,
hot climate, and peasant-like life. Southerners are passionate and friendly, and love to
eat. Taking advantage of local vegetables and nearby access to fruits of the sea, southern Italian food is full of variety, passion, and gusto, just like the locals are.
While each region has its own culinary personalities, the common bond is the high
caliber of Italian cuisine offered. With just one trip to Il Ponte during these two weeks,
you'll be able to complete a gastronomic journey to Italy's southern best!
Il Ponte features the finest Italian cuisine from tempting pasta and wood-fired brick
oven pizza to mouth watering regional dishes. The restaurant also has an extensive
choice of exquisite Italian and international wines.
Busan Port Authority (BPA) released a
final result of a feasibility study on dredging
on June 1, 2007 with more than 50 people
from port and logistics industries participating.
The study was conducted by a research center
of port and logistics at Bukyoung National
University since December, 2006.
According to the result, with the consideration of technical and economic feasibility
analysis, berths No 3 and 4 of Shinsundae
Container Terminal operated by Pusan East
Container Terminal(PECT) and berth No. 4
of Gamman Container Terminal operated by
Korea Express and Hutchison Container
Terminal jointly should be dredged first.
Because more than 88% of over 70,000
tons of container ships calling at Busan Port
anchor at both Shinsundae Container
Terminal and Gamman Container Terminal.
The dredging is expected to cost 28.5 billion won (US$30.7 million) and the study said
that the dredging has economic feasibility if
the Shinsundae Container Terminal attracts
more than 50,000TEU, 5% growth per year
and Gamman Container Terminal lures
22,000TEU, 2% increase annually when the
dredging is completed.
Other container terminals such as
Shingamman operated by Dong Boo
Construction and Evergreen jointly and
Jasungdae operated by Hutchison Container
Terminal are also required to be deeper to
accommodate Ultra Large Container Vessels.
The study revealed, however, dredging at
other container terminals needs a huge budget
and it should be conducted later considering
the possibility of cargo attraction and financial
feasibility analysis.
The cost for dredging will be covered by
BPA and terminal operators partially based on
benefit theory.
The biggest container vessel calling at
Busan port was a 9,600 container TEU vessel
and in order to accommodate more than
10,000 container TEU vessels, over 16m of
water depth should be secured at Busan Port.
Real-time News
Record Storage
Capacity Memory
Card for Mobiles
DMB International Symposium in Seoul
Korean IT companies and communication firms will visit Sprint Nextel, one of the
leading communication service providers in the US, on May 21. In a joint meeting with
IT and communication companies, they plan to talk with Sprint's engineers and purchasing personnel.
This occasion is made by the Korean government in a program to help small and
medium sized Korean IT and communication sectors enter US markets.
KT and SK Telecom will join the program to bridge the gap between small and medium sized companies and overseas markets.
The meeting consists of mutual cooperation presentations by the visitors and of individual talks with Sprint on purchasing.
The Ministry of Information and Technology will continue to help small and medium
sized companies have chances to talk with larger overseas companies.
8GB microSD chips
Samsung Electronics announced on May 17
that it has developed an 8Gigabyte (GB) microSD
(Secure Digital) memory card, a size optimal for
today's multimedia mobile phones. Featuring the
highest capacity today for a microSD card, the
new fingernail-sized card is capable of storing
2,000 MP3 music files, 4,000 digital photos, or
approximately 5 DVD-quality movies.
SD cards, to date, have been largely used for
data storage in digital still cameras and increasingly in televisions. MicroSD cards, which are a
quarter the size of an SD card, are backward
compatible with SD cards using an extender, to
allow multimedia files downloaded by mobile
phones to be easily displayed on other media.
With a read speed of 16 Megabytes (MBs) per
second and a write speed of 6MB/s, Samsung's
8GB microSD card well exceeds the Speed Class
4 SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) standard
which requires a data write speed of 4MB/s. This
is also much faster than the SD Speed Class 2 designation carried by most competing microSD
cards currently on the market.
This achievement is the latest in a string of
record-breaking improvements in flash memory
cards for Samsung as it continues to aggressively pursue its goal of being the development leader for the SD card market, and the competing
MMC (multimedia card) market.
The market research firm Dataquest predicts
that the memory card market as a whole will
average 10 percent annual growth between 2006
and 2010, while demand for high density 8GB
cards will grow an average of 2.6 times per year
over the same period. By 2010, the 8GB memory card will be the market mainstream in terms
of units sold.
Helping Companies Launch Overseas
Tape-cutting ceremony at DMB international symposium
Eighteen different countries joined the event and the total number of participants
added up to 200.
This particular symposium was a global hot spot because Digital Multimedia
Broadcasting was recently chosen by the International Telecommunication Union to be
an international standard.
DMB usage countries like Germany, China and Korea and testing countries like Italy and
Indonesia introduced the present condition of DMB promotion, new business models, and
their visions of technology development at this symposium. This helped the attendees to be
inspired for a new innovative ideas, and to take the next step to globalization.
60th Anniversary of Central Radio
Management Office
The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) Central Radio Management
Office (CRMO) will host a 60th anniversary ceremony at two o'clock in the afternoon on June
1 at the front square of CRMO with the minister Rho Joon-hyung as a special guest.
On 1947 June 1 is the day the post office first started radio wave monitoring at the special
duty department in a small room in a corner. Ever since then, they have been celebrating the
Radio Wave Remembrance Day. Since this year is the 60th anniversary, 300 relating persons
will attend the ceremony to take a look back at the past and honor the progress that has been
made so far and make a new resolution for the future.
"The u-IT839 strategy is led by the industry that uses radio waves," Minister Rho Joonhyung continued at the congratulatory speech. "We ask CRMO to continue to complete its
role as a guard to the radio waves to strengthen the IT strategy providing ability, and to
upgrade the quality of radio wave service for the great citizens."
The ceremony will involve showing a video that shows the origin of the ICE, honor the
contributors and exhibition of historical documents.
The Radio Wave High Monitoring System is a solution to manage high frequency waves,
broadband, and digital signals efficiently for DTV, DMB, and Mobile phones. The system is
expected to be finished in 2008. Once this system is completed, it is expected that this will
improve the radio wave controlling job a great deal by investigating frequency usage and discovering remaining or leftover frequencies.
Conference to Explain New Restrictive ID Policy
The Ministry of Information and Communication will conduct a policy explanation conference on the 16th at Hyochang Park to discuss about the restrictive
self identification policy with 62 main public organizations. The new restrictive
identification policy requires all web site users of web sites in Korea to identify
themselves with their real name when they post comments online. The policy
will be enforced from July 27.
The conference will feature the Restrictive Self Identification Guide Book
that answers the questions that the information communication service providers
and public organizations have been asking. The guide book will explain general
facts such as how to use a comment board and questions relating to procedures.
The MIC will finish the guide book by end of this month and pass them out and
distribute them through their website, mic.go.kr. Also, to minimize the confusion of users, MIC will advertise and start testing the policy with main portals
from June.
Here is a glimpse of what the Guide Book will contain:
Q: Do we have to identify ourselves every time we post information on a
board?
A: That depends on service providers. Generally, the log-in process takes care of
identification and you should be able to use the site without additional processes.
Q: Would we have to identify ourselves to just simply read the information
that is posted?
A: You don't have to identify yourself to read information. It's only for those who
post information on the board.
Q: Replies or one-line comments are also on target?
A: Yes, one line comments on the reply board are considered as board service.
Thus, the policy applies.
MIC, Australia to Set
Up VoIP Guideline
The Ministry of
Information
and
Communication and its
Australian counterpart
NEWS
agreed on May 9 to set up a
VoIP guideline. The guideline is to protect both
private users and businesses from the possible
leaking of information they send while using
VoIP services between the two countries. VoIP
is a new internet voice phone service using internet protocol.
The agreement came out because the two
countries shared the mutual understandings on
the security weakness of VoIP even though
VoIP service is to be vitalized. Australia had
suggested its idea to make a guideline at APEC
TEL 33rd Conference in April last year. The
two countries worked together for a year to
reach the agreement.
The agreement includes that the two sides
will analyze security threats in VoIP services
and open a website for three years to share their
study results and products.
Smart Solution to
Stop Sexual Content
Sexual content, content that invades privacy and illegal content such as mp3s and video
have been banned from being searched by keyword until now. The Ministry of Information
and Communication has found a better way to
kill them all. Now with the Multimedia
Content Sorting System, any sexual content
will automatically be terminated from the general portals. This is good news for parents who
have been getting nervous monitoring their
children's computer activities.
The MIC supported the Electronics
Telecommunications Research Institute
(ETRI) to create the Multimedia Content
Sorting System. This particular system detects
any silhouette of a body line or private body
parts and MP3 content with 99% accuracy.
The MIC is eagerly focusing on Digital Rights
Management until 2009 to protect content and
complete content distribution technology.
News Briefs
Parade of Nations
Yolanda F. de Ungo, spouse of Ambassador of El Salvador, Doyenne of
the Diplomatic Community (second from right) poses with participants of
the Parade of Nations 2007
"Since its inception in 2005, the Parade of Nations has been
a beneficial event that proves that charity knows no bounds,"
said Prime Minister Han of the Republic of Korea.
The 3rd consecutive Parade of Nations Diplomatic
Community Charity event, held on May 15, 2007 at Grand
Hyatt Seoul, offered something very special, with a unique
presentation of the multi cultural experience. This year, the
main theme was Global Dancing and Music from all over the
world, with dance groups performing Korean, African, Indian,
Latin American, Middle Eastern and Russian dances. Prime
Minister Han Duk-soo said: "Since its inception in 2005, the
Parade of Nations has been a beneficial event that proves that
charity knows no bounds."
Well-shaded Garden Reception
On the occasion
of the Election of
His Holiness Pope
Benefict XVI on
April 19, His
Excellency
Archibishop Emil
Paul Tscherrig of
the Holy See
His Excellency Archibishop Emil Paul
Embassy in Seoul Tscherrig of the Holy See Embassy in Seoul
(center) holds a commemorating function for
feted a well-shaded The
Election of His Holiness Pope Benefict XVI
garden party at his
residence, Gungjeong-dong, Seoul on May 23, 2007. Former
and current archbishops in Korea were on hand and from the
Seoul diplomatic corps Turkish Ambassador Deniz Oezmen,
Hungarian Ambassador Dr. Istvan Torzsa, and Greek
Ambassador Constantin Drakakis came to the party.
Europe Day Reception
Italy National Day
EU envoy Brian McDonald smiles on the occasion of
the Europe Day with the Seoul Diplomatic corps
Italy Ambassador Massimo Andrea Leggeri (third from left) poses with
prize winners for their services regarding bilateral relations
On the occasion of the Italian National Day 2007, the
Ambassador of Italy Massimo Andrea Leggeri held a
commemorating reception on June 4th 2007 at his residence,
Hannam-dong, Seoul. Scores of companies sponsored the
reception including Samsung Heavy Industries, Bersano,
Bellenda, Zaccagnini and the Seoul Diplomatic Corps and
Italians in Korea shared the pleasure of the Italian National Day
among the fragrance of early summer in Hannam-dong residence
near the Han River where reception participants can most well
see the beautiful Han River scenery. Ambassador Leggeri
conferred a decoration on some Koreans who contributed to
bilateral relations in the fields of wine import and construction.
Germany Ambassador Dr. Norbert Baas (second from right) poses with Slovak
Ambassador Pavel Hrmo couple on the occasion of the EU Film Festival
"Over the years it has evolved to be much more than a simple
trading bloc coordinating members' trade policy and setting common tariffs," said EU envoy Brian McDonald.
The Europe Day reception, hosted by the Delegation of the
European Commission on May 9 at Lotte Hotel Seoul, was a
good opportunity to be able to confirm how current Europe integration brought about prosperity over the last 50 years. Over the
years it has evolved to be much more than a simple trading bloc
coordinating members' trade policy and setting common tariffs.
Today the European Union is a political and economic project
bringing together 27 European countries and over 490 million
people. Separately from it, the EU Film Festival was held in
Seoul at the end of May to introduce diverse EU countries' film to
the Korean public.
Annual Korea-Germany Association General Meeting
Scholarships Recognize Extraordinary
Germany envoy Dr. Norbert Baas couple (fifth from right) pose with
participants of the Korea-Germany Association annual general meeting
Chevening Scholarships Awarding Ceremony
Korea-Germany Association (Koreanish-Deutsche
Gesellschaft) held its annual garden picnic and general meeting
on May 13 at the garden of the Greencross company, located in
Yongin, Kyunggi Province. Germany Ambassador Dr. Norbert
Baas and Mrs. Dr. Annabel Von Arnim-Baas were on hand plus
BMW Korea president Kim Hyo-joon.
"Chevening Scholarships provide young people from all
around the world with the opportunity to study for postgraduate
qualifications in the United Kingdom," said England
Ambassador Warwick Morris.
For over 20 years England's Chevening Scholarships have
provided young people from all around the world with the
opportunity to study for postgraduate qualifications in the United
Kingdom. In Korea this year too, Warwick Morris, Her
Britannic Majesty's Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, held a
ceremony to confer scholarships on exceptional Korean students
on May 16 at his residence, Jungdong, Seoul.
On the occasion of the State Visit of His Excellency
Enkhbayar Nambar, President of Mongolia and Mrs. Tsolmon
Onon, Korea's four economic bodies such as KITA, FKI, and
Korcham held a welcoming luncheon on May 29 at Lotte Hotel
Seoul. Besides this luncheon, the Ambassador of Mongolia to
the Republic of Korea & Mrs. Batnasan Vandan held a reception
in the evening the same day for Mongolians living in Korea on
the occasion of the President's official visit to Korea.
Visit from Royalty
Wines of Argentina First Grand Tasting in Seoul
"Your country is today among the world's leading economic
powers," said His Royal Highness Crown Prince Haakon.
On the occasion of the Official Visit of Their Royal
Highnesses Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess MetteMarit to the Republic of Korea,
the Royal Norwegian Embassy
in Seoul organized a variety of
events including the KoreaNorway Business Summit
Seminar, ICT Seminar, new and
renewable energy seminar, LNG
Seminar, tourism seminar plus
Their Royal Highnesses
concert and dinner on May 9 at Crown Prince Haakon and
Crown Princess Mette-Marit
Grand Hyatt Seoul.
"Your country is today among the world's leading economic
powers, and has become Norways third largest trading partner in
Asia," said HRH Crown Prince Haakon during a dinner in Prime
Minister Han Duck-soo's residence. The statement was one of
many during HRH Crown Prince Haakon and HRH Crown
Princess Mette-Marits visit to Korea that underlined the important economic cooperation between Norway and Korea.
State Visit of His Excellency Enkhbayar Nambar,
President of Mongolia
Argentina Ambassador Alfredo A. Alcorta (left) poses with wine
salesmen from Argentina on the occasion of the Wines of Argentina
First Grand Tasting in Seoul
The Wines of Argentina First Grand Tasting in Seoul was held
from 16:00 through 21:00 on June 4th at Seoul Grand Hyatt.
Twenty-three Argentina wineries showed off a total of 250 wines to
wine business circles and experts including wine lovers.
Ambassador Alfredo A. Alcorta said: "Accompanied seminar
helped participants understand about the feature of Argentina wine
plantation, and newly-emerging brewing area's climate
circumstance and diverse wine grades."

Future Code-named Santa Rosa Korea

Transcription

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