Top > Economic Affairs > The Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) > ASEM Seminar on the Digital Opportunity > Session 4: Policy Environment and the Role of Government > Korean National Strategy to Close the Digital Divide (Presentation)

Presentation
Korean National Strategy to Close the Digital Divide

Dr. Cheung-Moon Cho
Associate Research Fellow, National Computerization Agency, Korea

The Korean Government has a special concern on digital divide issues. The Cyber Korea 21 plan states that all the Korean people regardless of their age, sex, region and income should have the opportunity to use computers and the Internet. In December 2000, a Digital Divide Law was enacted which established a committee for bridging the digital divide and proposed a five-year plan for the same purpose.

There are three factors in Korea that are primarily responsible for the spread of high-speed Internet access. The first reason is geography, with many people living closely together. A second reason is competition, and a third reason is the high proportion of Korean-language content on the Internet. But despite the Internet explosion, there are still deep digital gaps witnessed in Korea, and one of the causes for this is income inequality.

The Korean government has identified five policy areas to address:

  • Infrastructure for telecommunication services
  • Access to telecommunication services
  • Provision of IT learning opportunities
  • Evaluation and measurement of the digital divide
  • Closing international digital divide

Currently a fiber-optic backbone network is under construction, as well as high-speed networks in the rural areas, in order to bridge the geographic digital divide between urban and rural areas. In order to increase disabled access to IT, accessibility guidelines are being compiled for the disabled.

In order to promote PC ownership, an Internet PC project aims to offer second-hand PCs free of charge to people with low incomes. In addition, 50,000 Internet PCs are planned to be offered to scholarly outstanding low-income students in 2001, inclusive of five-year free Internet access. IT learning is also offered to housewives, the disabled, the elderly and the self-employed.

In 2001, problems of the digital divide will be further evaluated in Korea and the criteria of evaluation will be updated.

In bridging the closing of the international digital divide, it is necessary to connect different countries through a network; for example, the APII test-bed, which connects Korea-Japan, Korea-Singapore, and Japan-Singapore. A Trans Eurasia Information Network (TEIN) is called for to link Europe and Asia, and an expert group meeting was scheduled for March 2001 in order to investigate this project.

In another attempt to bridge the international digital divide, IT Youth Corps will be launched in 2001 and about 150 IT-skilled youths will be dispatched to Asian countries that need IT experts. A Digital Bridge Fund was also suggested by Korea at the ASEAN+3 Summit in November 2000, which would be helpful in closing the digital divide among East Asian countries.

Korea wants to participate actively in bridging the international digital divide and offer its experience to other countries. It is important for ASEM countries to collect data from each ASEM member on the state of the digital divide in individual nations and create national plans to close the digital divide.

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