Korea's Information Society----한국의 정보 사회

Scrutinizing North Korea in the information era: crowdsourcing and satellite imagery

2013-05-24T10:05:00.001+09:00

In the new globally-networked information environment, it would seem that the North Korean government's efforts to control the flow of information in and out of the country are facing multiple new challenges. These include crowd-sourcing and the increased use of publicly available satellite imagery by North Korean watchers, both individuals and groups, around the world.

For example, DigitalGlobe has been working for the past several years with the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea to monitor activity at political prisoner camps in North Korea. A report published in February of this year focused on a facility commonly known as Camp No. 25. (click on the graphic to see a full size version of the photo here, one of many contained in the report.)
Another example, as reported by Computerworld and in other media, involved an Australian software engineer, David Jorm, who recently completed a weather study that focused on the famine in North Korea during the 1990s. At a conference in Australia, he said “My research was around using satellite data to try and map the impact of the famine. I had a theory that because people would be harvesting crops before they were ready this would result in land degradation. From satellite sensing, you would be able to see that they had a certain level of agricultural productivity and after the famine it was reduced. I did this research and proved that this is what happened.” As Jorm noted in his presentation, there are a variety of free and commercial sources of satellite imagery available today. For example, Google Maps now contains names of towns, provinces and street names in North Korea. This was due to crowd-sourced information entered into Google's online Map Maker tool.

Malware: The downside of Microsoft's "monoculture" in Korea

2013-05-23T08:46:00.001+09:00

As readers of this blog will know, I've commented frequently on the "Microsoft monoculture" in South Korea, most recently in a December 2012 post. Consequently, coverage in the local press of Microsoft's latest Security Intelligence Report caught my eye as it contained more evidence of the negative side effects of over reliance on Microsoft software.

As shown in a line graph from the report (click on the graphic to see a full size version), Korea ended the year with a malware infection rate of 93.0, much higher than the other locations with high infection rates. The report explains that the spikes in the infection rates were mainly due to increased detection of the rogue security software family Win32/Onescan. Onescan is a Korean-language rogue security software distributed under a variety of names, brands and logos. (click on Figure 40 from the Microsoft Report to see a full size version of the "VaccineHelper" example) In the fourth quarter of 2012, miscellaneous Trojans were found on 75.6% of all computers scanned in Korea. Furthermore, the report noted that Windows XP retains a larger market share in Korea than in most other large countries and regions.

Google-Samsung and the Android Ecosystem

2013-05-20T08:31:00.001+09:00

A study by Strategy Analytics shows that Samsung currently captures nearly 95 percent of global Android system smartphone profits. (click on Exhibit 1 from the report to see a full-sized version of the graphic) Along with LG, the two Korean companies reportedly account for 97 percent of operating profits from the sale of Android smartphones worldwide.
The Strategy Analytics news release also included the following interesting observation by Neil Mawston, Executive Director. “Samsung is, for now, the undisputed king of the global Android smartphone industry. We believe Samsung generates more revenue and profit from the Android platform than Google does. Samsung has strong market power and it may use this position to influence the future direction of the Android ecosystem. For example, Samsung could request first or exclusive updates of new software from Android before rival hardware vendors.”

Naver, Korea's "Walled Garden" and Economic Democracy

2013-05-15T10:05:00.001+09:00

As reported in the Joongang Daily and other Korean papers today, "The government’s first IT target in its campaign for “economic democratization” is Naver, the nation’s largest Web portal site, and its aggressive expansion into various services. (click on the accompanying graphic to see a full-sized version) The Fair Trade Commission is currently conducting an investigation into NHN, the operating company of Naver." The investigation is in line with the government's economic democratization drive, aimed at creating a sound online market that protects small players.

To place this news in larger perspective, one must consider that Korea is still among a small handful of the world's nations in which Google does not hold a leading market share. Google's near-universal popularity is based on the fact that its robots index the largest portion of the so-called "visible web." Consequently, people interested in a comprehensive search for information use Google. Incidentally, my undergraduate students at KAIST, both Korean and international overwhelmingly favor Google as a search engine.
As readers of this blog will know I've been very interested in the continued popularity of Naver, given the dramatic differences with Google in terms of what it does. (see numerous posts by entering "Naver" in the search bar at the right) Basically, Naver deals exclusively with Korean language source material and formats its search results in a manner that appeals to Koreans. It appears much more like a web portal than a search engine and its most popular feature, by far, is called "knowledge-in," which allows users to ask a question, which is then answered in Korean by other Naver users. Naturally, the "knowledge-in" database has grown tremendously over the years.
The most interesting thing about the current news of an FTC investigation is that Naver epitomizes the continuing "walled garden" character of Korea's internet. Whatever else one may say on the matter, those who rely on Naver search results are choosing from a relatively small universe of Korean-language content, rather than the far larger universe of content on the visible web. In today's global economy, it would seem that Korea's efforts to move in the direction of stronger software, content and services will eventually mean a shift from the heavy reliance on Naver toward Google or other search tools, yet to come, that are more global in their scope.

President Park Geun-hye proposes peace park in the DMZ

2013-05-09T15:07:00.001+09:00

In her address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress, delivered in English, President Park Geun-hye proposed that a peace park be established inside the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ). She told the assembled members of congress, "60 years ago, a stretch of earth bisecting the Korean Peninsula was cleared of arms. Today, that demilitarized zone drawn to prevent armed collision is the most militarized place on the planet. And the standoff around the DMZ has the potential to endanger global peace. We must defuse that danger. Not just South and North Korea. The world must also get involved. The demilitarized zone must live up to its name, a zone that strengthens the peace not undermines it. It is with this vision in mind that I hope to work toward an international park inside the DMZ. It will be a park that sends a message of peace to all of humanity. This could be pursued in parallel with my Trust-building Process. There, I believe we can start to grow peace -- to grow trust. It would be a zone of peace bringing together not just Koreans separated by a military line, but also the citizens of the world. I call on America and the global community to join us in seeking the promise of a new day."

President Park did not make mention of the existing international proposal by the DMZ Forum for Peace and Nature Conservation, which was the subject of a post on this blog in May of 2012. (click on the graphic at the left to see a full size version of the map outlining their peace park proposal) However, on the face of it, the proposal could presumably draw upon the efforts of this group. The enlarged area of the proposed peace park on the eastern side of the Korean peninsula encompasses northern and southern reaches of Gangwon province, the only province in Korea that is divided by the DMZ.
The full text of President Park Geun-hye's address to the joint session of congress in Washington, D.C. was published by Yonhap News and can be read at this link. For readers who wish to see a video of the entire speech, it has been published on the website of the clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives.

U.S. and Korea to pursue science and ICT policy partnership

2013-05-08T11:46:00.000+09:00

Some of the news coming out of President Park Geun-hye's visit to the United States is encouraging and relates to topics treated in this blog. Specifically, I'm referring to the announcement in connection with her visit to Washington that the United States and South Korea will begin regular bilateral consultations on ICT policy. As noted in a fact sheet on the United States -- Republic of Korea alliance released by the spokesperson of the U.S. State Department yesterday, "U.S.-ROK cooperation on information and communications technology policy, Internet issues, and cybersecurity continues to expand. Both countries are pleased to announce that bilateral consultations on cyber issues will take place this summer, in preparation for the Seoul Conference on Cyberspace on October 17-18, 2013. The United States and Republic of Korea have decided to establish a bilateral Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policy Forum. The ICT Policy Forum will be a recurring dialogue to address policy issues vital to the ICT sector and the Internet economy, including issues such as data privacy, regulatory practices, Internet freedom, and Internet governance."
I would simply note that the establishment of this bilateral policy forum is long overdue and that it promises to be a mutually beneficial endeavor.

Official Pyeongchang 2018 emblem released

2013-05-06T10:00:00.001+09:00

As reported by The Korea Times and other media, the organizing committee for the Pyeongchang 2018 winter olympics has released its official emblem. (click on the graphic to see a full-size version). As noted in the article, the emblem is based upon the hangul alphabetic characters at the beginning of each consonant in "Pyeongchang." However, readers should note that the first symbol is an accurate representation of the consonant as written in Hangul, while the second is not a reproduction of the hangul character, but rather an asterisk-like character that can be viewed as a snowflake or human character.
The release of the emblem is a reminder that the 2018 Winter Olympics are only five years off. Given the current tensions between North and South Korea, this raises some interesting issues, most especially because the Olympics will be hosted in Gangwon province, the only province in Korea that is divided, as is the nation, by the demilitarized zone. (see my earlier post)

Government structure for ICT and S&T Policy, 2003-present, 미래창조과학부

2013-04-30T09:13:00.002+09:00

A Korean language report released by the new Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) provides some interesting new information on how the structure of government is different than the prior two administrations. It clearly shows that the digital information revolution was central to the new President's thinking in reorganizing government. The report is titled "Science, technology and ICT leading to a realization of the creative economy and citizens welfare," (my translation) and is dated April 18, 2013. It provides some interesting detail on the scope and mandate of the new ministry, including the chart reproduced here (click to see a full-sized version), with English superimposed over the Korean text on the original. The chart shows the transition in the structure of key government ministries and offices related to Science and Technology and ICT from the "participatory government" of President Roh Moo Hyun to the Lee Myung-bak government to the present Park Geun-hye government. The chart provides an interesting view of how the Park Geun-hye administration not only put ICT industry and policy responsibilities back into a single ministry, but also merged it with science and technology, recognizing the broad manner in which the digital information revolution is transforming the economy and prospects for new jobs. More on this topic in future posts.

Buddhist outreach with smart phone apps

2013-04-29T07:50:00.001+09:00

The Korea Herald carried an interesting article this morning on how Buddhist leaders in Korea are using information technology to reach out to the masses. The article started by noting that "...the preconceived stereotypes of Buddhist monks living in ascetic, rustic conditions nevertheless do not blend well with smartphones. Yet monks are chatting and texting, and spreading Buddhist teachings, on cell phones everywhere from Dongguk University in the heart of Seoul to the sandy courtyards of mountain hermitages." TheJogye Order,the largest Buddhist order in Korea, has been developing cutting-edge smartphone apps to spread the message of Buddhism. "Starting with the “Hello Dharma School” application in 2010, the Jogye Order’s Office of Missionary Affairs has developed eight apps and is working on several more."

Will Korea's "network powerhouse" phase continue in the future?

2013-04-27T15:20:00.003+09:00

Today I ran across a Korean language paper written by researchers at, Digieco, KT's economic and management research institute. They addressed some of the same topics as the conference paper I wrote with a Korean colleague and delivered annual conference of the Pacific Telecommunications Council in January. The title of the Digieco research paper translates roughly into English as "Will Korea's network powerhouse phase continue....the basis for future competitiveness."
The paper begins by noting that the value of networks is changing. Over the past decade, countries around the world have come to recognize networks not simply as a means for transmission of communications, but as infrastructure that is a necessary pre-requisite for economic growth, innovation and job creation. (paper can be downloaded at this link)
Up to this point, the paper notes, South Korea has become a digital network powerhouse through fierce competition among operators. The nation's status as the first country in the world to build out nationwide LTE mobile networks is but the latest evidence of this phase in South Korean development.

A couple of other arguments made in the paper were interesting. For one thing, although it did not invoke the "information superhighway" metaphor, it explicitly drew the comparison between the impact of transportation infrastructure and digital communication networks, presenting the bar chart published here (click to see a full size version of the graphic). The top bar in the graph represents the duration (15 hours) to drive from Seoul to Busan on. The second bar represents the time required if driving on the Gyeongbu expressway, and the final two bars show the time required to travel from Seoul to Busan on the original KTX, introduced in 2004 and the newer version of KTX, introduced in 2010.
A second argument in the paper that I found interesting was its conclusion. It notes that Korea, which began as a network powerhouse, has in recent years neglected this while countries around the globe paid more attention to it. Therefore, the paper argues, there is a need to pay attention to reducing the gap between Korea and other countries through a range of government investment support. It suggests the need for government leadership as the nation nears the end of its "network powerhouse" phase.

Korea's continuing lead in speed

2013-04-22T09:53:00.002+09:00

I received a message this past week calling my attention to the infographic at the left (click on the infographic to see a full size version, or go directly to it at this link) Note that the comparisons of South Korea with the U.S. are on the top quarter or so of the graphic, followed by U.S.-specific information.
This information prompted me to check Akamai's latest State of the Internet quarterly report, for the third quarter of 2012. It shows that Korea continues to lead the world in its average measured connection speed to the internet, at 14.7 Mbps, followed by Japan and Hong Kong at 10.5 and 9.0 Mbps respectively. South Korea is also the world leader in what Akamai calls "High Broadband" with 52% of all connections at a speed greater than 10 Mbps, compared with only 18% of such connections in the United States.
When it comes to internet connections, whether fixed or mobile, speed matters. However, high speed broadband networks do not simply appear overnight. Indeed, the building of these new networks is a large, long-term construction project that requires massive funding, planning and leadership. The larger lesson from this infographic, along with considerable recent research and discussion in policy circles, is that the liberal, U.S. approach to broadband, "let the market and private sector handle it" doesn't seem to work well, when compared with the government-led, long-term ICT policy planning in South Korea.
I've been working over the past several weeks on revision of a conference paper with a Korean colleague that examines the role of government leadership in the ICT sector, so this infographic was a timely reminder that policies and plans, or the lack thereof, ultimately affect the marketplace and consumers. It also reminded me to appreciate the gigabit network at KAIST and the high download speeds we enjoy here in the Daedok Innopolis. While Kansas City, Austin Texas and Provo Utah will soon get similar speeds courtesy of Google, over here in South Korea the entire nation will very soon be enjoying a gigabit network.

Google chairman's recent North Korea visit and the "dark side of the digital revolution"

2013-04-20T21:51:00.002+09:00

The Wall Street Journal has published an interesting article by Google's Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen, entitled "The Dark Side of the Digital Revolution." It is based largely on their recent visit to North Korea, and provides an interesting current perspective on the dilemma that the internet and all new digital technologies and networks pose for the North Korean government. For example, they note that "Even the idea of the Internet has not yet permeated the public's consciousness in North Korea. When foreigners visit, the government stages Internet browsing sessions by having "students" look at pre-downloaded and preapproved content, spending hours (as they did when we were there) scrolling up and down their screens in totalitarian unison." What makes this situation so poignant is that, just south of the DMZ is a society which is arguably more aware of the internet than any other country on earth. I recommend reading the entire article.

Science and ICT Ministry to focus on technology, job creation

2013-04-20T11:54:00.002+09:00

Now that its Minister is formally appointed, news about specific activities planned by the new Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning is being published. As noted by Yonhap News, the "super ministry" plans to focus a great deal of money and effort in the coming several years on technology upgrades and job creation. Also, The Korea ITTimes is reporting that the ministry plans to spend KRW 31.5 billion nurturing IT talent. It reported that "The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) will plough KRW 31.47 billion into fostering IT and IT convergence experts. The MSIP said Sunday it will provide KRW 22.17 billion to universities’ IT research centers and KRW 9.3 billion to projects aimed to nurture highly-skilled workers in the IT convergence sector.The MSIP’s two projects, “Support for University IT Research Centers” and “Project to Nurture Highly-skilled IT Convergence Experts,” will benefit about 2,200 college students and nearly 180 companies’ IT and IT convergence researches respectively. As for Support for University IT Research Centers, each beneficiary (university) will receive KRW 600 million to KRW 800 million annually over the next four years to make sure universities produce excellent IT workers in a sustainable manner and effectively carry out industry-academia joint R&D projects. This year, a total of 30 universities will be covered by Support for University IT Research Centers."

Official name: "Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning" (미래창조과학부)

2013-04-09T14:42:00.000+09:00

Finally, the government has announced the official English name for the new super ministry that has been the subject of numerous earlier posts. As reported by Yonhap News Agency and other media, it is the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning.
The new ministry has also published a Korean language web site (view it at this link), with some pages still under construction.

More on the nature of Korea's cyber-war

2013-04-07T10:20:00.001+09:00

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are at a high level, thanks in no small part to the manner in which news is disseminated in the new, digitally networked environment in which we live. Yesterday I watched most of a "Situation Room" special on the Korean situation on CNN. The segments were informative, featuring interviews with various experts and a lot of current or recent video taken within North Korea. Inevitably one of the topics was the "cyber-war" that is taking place alongside the "real world" by the U.S., South Korean and North Korean military, among other actors. Although like many people, I get much of my news over the internet, I still watch television news (CNN, the BBC, Korean news channels, etc.) and value its immediate and visual character. The "Situation Room" special actually showed segments of the video that the hacking group, Anonymous, posted to YouTube. A screen capture of that video was published yesterday by The Joongang Daily (click on the graphic at left to see a full size version)
The Joongang Daily also published some interesting detail about the information made public by Anonymous after it hacked the North Korean site "Uriminzokkiri." As I noted in a short post yesterday, that information included records of the web sites 9,001 members, about 5,000 of whose e-mail addresses appeared to be in South Korea. The article included the breakdown of those addresses as shown in the graphic below (click to see a larger version) .
The Joongang Daily Article also noted that the police, prosecutors and the National Intelligence Service (NIS) were checking whether the South Korean members had violated the nation's national security law. "If a South Korean exchanged messages with Pyongyang after becoming a member of the Web site, it would be a violation of the NSL’s Article No. 8, which prohibits people from communicating with people in the North and which can be punished with up to 10 years in prison. Posting words or images that praise North Korea is a violation of Article No. 7 and can be punished with a jail term of up to seven years, according to the NIS." The national security law is the main reason why South Korea ranks high on internet filtering as measured by the Open Net Initiative, but only in the political category, as noted in an earlier post.

Anonymous hacks North Korean "Uriminzokkiri" web site

2013-04-06T09:05:00.002+09:00

The cyber conflict involving the two Koreas took a new twist recently when the international hacking group Anonymous hacked an official North Korean web site,"Uriminzokkiri" . As noted by the Korea Joongang Daily, "Anonymous, a so-called “hacktivist” group, said it hacked into the pro-North Web site uriminzokkiri.com in order to tell Pyongyang to stop threatening the world and to warn North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to step down and give his people freedom. It leaked records of the Web site’s 9,001 members on Thursday including names, user IDs, dates of birth, e-mail addresses and genders. About 5,000 of the e-mail addresses were from South Korea."

The importance of a name for the new Future Ministry (미래창조과학부)

2013-04-04T08:26:00.000+09:00

Not surprisingly, the question of the name for the new Future Ministry (미래창조과학부) continues to be debated in the local press, for reasons I've touched on in several earlier posts. Today The Korea Times carried an article on the topic. Some papers have been calling it the Ministry of Future Planning and Science, even though the word "planning" is not part of the Korean name. Presumably this is because candidate Ahn Cheol-soo proposed a Ministry of Future Planning, while campaigning for the presidency last Fall. For background on that, see this Hankyoreh article.

Why the new super ministry nominee with drew (미래창조가학부)

2013-04-02T08:05:00.005+09:00

The English papers in Seoul are all covering the Washington Post opinion piece in which the Park Geun-hye administration's initial nominee to head the new Future Ministry (미래창조과학부) explained his reasons for withdrawing from the nomination process. That editorial said in part "Change-resistant forces in the political and bureaucratic circles and certain business spheres naturally raised objections to my candidacy, mostly on the basis of my nationality and presumed lack of allegiance. A vitriolic response I can only liken to a witch hunt took off on the Internet and even in some mainstream media outlets. I was slandered. Some, for example, theorized that I was a spy. Family was considered fair game: My wife was accused of being associated with a brothel." Near the end of the article, he says "In the 21st century, the most successful countries and economies will be those that can move beyond the old prejudices concerning nationality." In response to the Washington Post piece, The Joongang Ilbo published an article headlined "Park's former nominee decries excess nationalism," while The Korea Herald's article bore the headline "Failed minister nominee makes bitter attack on Korea's old prejudices." The reactions are as one would expect, but provide some food for thought about this nation's role in an ever more closely-knit "global village."

Is the cyber-war a "quieter risk?"

2013-03-30T17:09:00.001+09:00

The New York Times carried an article by Choe Sang-Hun and David Sanger titled "As North Korea Blusters, U.S. Worries about Quieter Risks." It reinforces some of the points made in my last post. I only have one question. In what sense are the cyber war attacks and propaganda a "quieter" risk? It seems to me that their effects are noisy and very real.

The raging cyber war in Korea

2013-03-29T09:10:00.001+09:00

I've observed with considerable interest the cyber war that is taking place these days in Korea. I use "cyber war" here with reference not only to malware and denial of service attacks, but also to the "war of words," in official statements of the North Korean and other governments, and also YouTube videos. Just as many of the founders of the modern field of communication research studied propaganda during World War II, what we are witnessing today is a form of propaganda and information warfare. The new element is that the war is taking place in cyberspace.

Initial reports of the cyber attacks that disrupted several major South Korean banks and broadcasting organizations traced them to Chinese IP addresses, but it is not so easy at all to track down the original source of such attacks, given the inherently decentralized structure of the internet. A study released by the Korea Internet and Security Agency ranked the top countries of origin for DDoS attacks as shown in the accompanying graphic (click on the graphic to see a full size version). During the last six months of 2012, India, Brazil, Thailand, Japan and Iran were the top five sources according to IP addresses.
In addition to the cyber-warfare that targets businesses and their administrative networks or websites, the latest skirmishes have also involved a "war of words" and other symbolic gestures. In recent days, North Korea has made repeated public announcements about the specific state of its military readiness and these, not surprisingly have been covered by most major news media around the world. South Korea and the United States have responded with gestures that have included nuclear submarines and stealth bombers taking part in joint U.S.-ROK military exercises. Also, North Korea is more frequently using its YouTube channel for distribution of videos, such as the following one, published widely by media around the world.

The English name of new super ministry, 미래창조과학부

2013-03-27T08:55:00.002+09:00

Now that the government reorganization law has been passed by Korea's national assembly, it should be possible to verify the official English name of the Ministry. At least that is my understanding. However, different versions of the name for the 미래창조과학부 continue to appear. Today I noticed that the InvestKorea blog called it the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning. Stay tuned.

More on the mega-ministry (미래창조과학부)

2013-03-19T08:38:00.004+09:00

As promised, this post contains some additional details on the new mega-ministry which is being called the Ministry of Future Planning and Science in many English papers (미래부 or "Future Ministry" is the shorthand reference being used in the Korean press). The following details come from an article in yesterday's Joongang Daily (Korean language) and another that appeared in The Korea Times today.

The new Ministry will be very large, and is referred to as "mammoth," with more than 800 staff members at the start, about 300 of whom will be transferred from the Korea Communications Commission and another 250 from the current Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.
The "Future Ministry" will have two Vice-Ministers. One will oversee future planning research and science and technology policy. The second will be in charge of broadcasting-telecommunications convergence, frequency allocation strategies, telecommunications policy and broadcasting promotion strategy.
It will have responsibility for the allocation of approximately 17 trillion Korean (over 15 billion U.S. dollars) won in national research and development funding. This was formerly controlled by the Presidential National Science and Technology Council which is being abolished.
It is envisioned as a giant engine to foster the creative economy promised by President Park Geun-hye by fostering contents--platforms--networks--devices (CPNT) and promoting the ICT industry. Notably, it brings the ICT policy responsibilities that had been scattered among several ministries back into one place, with the exception of telecommunications regulation by the KCC.
Key responsibilities that were formerly under the Ministry of Culture, Sport and Tourism are being transferred to the Future Ministry. These include promoting the circulation of high quality, authentic digital contents, core technology development, database industry development, growth projects for SMEs and the digital contents platforms business.

As noted in The Korea Times, "In her inaugural address on Feb. 25, Park defined a creative economy as the convergence of science and technology with industry, a fusion of culture with industry and the blossoming of creativity across industry sector borders."

Agreement reached on new super ministry (미래창조과학부)

2013-03-18T11:07:00.001+09:00

Over the weekend, ruling and opposition party negotiators reached an agreement which, if approved by the full National Assembly in a vote this week, will confirm the rest of President Park Geun-hye's government reorganization plan, including its centerpiece, the Ministry for Future Planning and Science. As reported by the Korea Joongang Daily, "The agreement came 47 days after the bills were submitted by the Saenuri Party to the Assembly and 21 days since the Park administration began. “President Park expressed her appreciation to the National Assembly for reaching an agreement on the government restructuring plan,” said Kim Haing, a Blue House spokeswoman. “She also said the government and the ruling and opposition parties should cooperate to empower the Ministry of Future Planning and Science to revive our economy and create jobs.” "
A key issue that held up approval of the government reorganization was the claim by the opposition party that formation of the new super ministry would be used by the Park Geun-hye administration to control broadcasting. That issue was solved by agreement to set up a special comittee on broadcasting. As noted in the Korea Joongang Daily article," To ensure broadcasters’ neutrality, the ruling and opposition parties agreed to establish a special committee on the issue in the March legislative session. The committee will be composed of an equal number of members from the Saenuri Party and the DUP. It will be chaired by the opposition DUP during its six-month term." More on the specifics of the new Ministry in later posts.

Communication and media issues at the center of Korea's political impasse

2013-03-07T15:24:00.000+09:00

The political impasse over President Park Geun-hye's government reorganization continues, as does public discussion and mainstream news media coverage of the issue. For example, an article in The Korea Herald carried the headline "New Giant Ministry Mired in Political Wrangling."
As noted in the article, the new ministry, which focuses on building a “creative economy,” would be in charge of devising policies involving developing future growth engines in information communication technology as well as science. “Some say that the new government branch will have too much power and some others say it’s just being overemphasized, but the main message is that it aims to create new jobs and projects through IT and science,” said Chang Soon-heung, a professor of nuclear quantum engineering at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology. Chang, who is a leading authority in nuclear study, has been a part of Park’s transition team, helping the new president to establish a more creative and technology-driven economy ― drafting measures on developing the software industry and supporting start-up firms while setting up the infrastructure for the new ministry. He further noted that “Creativity has become a virtue of utmost importance … we now have to compete with creativity, and the role of the Future Planning and Science Ministry will play a critical role in making that happen.”
An article in The Korea IT News covered a meeting of scholars hosted by the Korea Federation of Science and Technology Societies on March 5. Some of the experts in attendance pointed out that the Ministry of Future-Creation Science (English name to be decide later) must lead convergence and support the creation of an ecosystem for producers of intellectual property (IP). Professor YI Park of the Digital Media School, Ewha Women’s University, suggested that intellectual property should be used as the tool for convergence. “It is widely understood that there is science and technology on one side of the Ministry, and ICT on the other side. We need a successful convergence technology package that will bridge the two sides,” commented Prof. Park.

Super-ministry nominee withdraws, his "dreams shattered"

2013-03-04T12:00:00.001+09:00

The Korean-American entrepreneur and former President of Bell Labs who had been nominated by President Park Geun-hye to head the new Ministry for Future Science and Innovation (my translation as the official name has not been announced-- 미래창조과학부) today withdrew from consideration. As reported in The Korea Joongang Daily, Kim Jeong-hoon, the nominee, told a news conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, "As I watched the confusion over the government reorganization bill, my dreams were also shattered."