Efforts to build infrastructure to facilitate information distribution took off worldwide in the last decade of the 20th century. In Korea, the need for a national-level informatization strategy emerged in the early 1990s, and attempts to find ways to jump-start the informatization process began in earnest around this time.

The Ministry of Information and Communication, created in 1994 to address this new national imperative, became the world first government body of its rank dedicated to informatization and promoting the growth of the ICT industry. The Ministry successfully accelerated Korea transition into an information society by providing mid- and long-term visions for the national-level informatization process and building a close-knit cooperation system with the private sector, and ultimately helped it claim its present place among the world ICT powerhouses.

Strong governmental support of Korea informatization drive was decisive to its success. The government was quick to remove legal and regulatory obstacles, critically facilitating the process. No less pivotal were factors such as the high responsiveness to new technologies among Korean people, Korea population density, its large consumer base for the information and communications service market, and finally aggressive investment in information infrastructure by the corporate sector.

The lesson of the Korean success story has been a strong partnership between government, corporations and citizens working in unison. This lesson will surely guide the nation future informatization efforts and international activities as a world leader of IT.

In 1994, when the Korean government established the Ministry of Information and Communication to steer the national project of building high-speed communications infrastructure, it consolidated all programs and tasks relating to the promotion of information and communications industry and technological development in telecommunications and broadcasting, previously conducted and performed in other sections of the government, placing them under the aegis of the new Ministry. In so doing, the government set up a basic steering structure for the national informatization project, built around the Informatization Promotion Committee, which oversees the process, across the Korean society.

To begin the informatization process in earnest from the mid-1990s, the asic Plans for the Promotion of Informatization was drawn up in 1996. Under this master plan, a series of new plans, strategies and visions were successively added: yber Korea 21 1999), -Korea Vision 2006 2002), roadband IT Korea Vision 2007 2004) provided updated competitive strategies,reflecting new technological and market demands.

In keeping up with the rest of the developed world in it efforts to build high-speed communications networks in the 1990s, Korea completed its plan for a project to set up a nationwide optical fiber network and high-speed exchange network in 1995, and moved ahead with construction.

As the internet began its exponential growth worldwide around this time, the government and private sector split the project between them, with the former in charge of setting up a high-speed national network and a test bed network, and the latter in charge of public networks. High-speed, high-capacity backbone networks were created in 144 local calling areas across our economy, and high-speed subscriber networks introduced in 1,400 towns nationwide.

Meanwhile, for next-generation information infrastructure for converged telecom, broadcasting and internet services, the government finalized its asic Plans for the Construction of the Broadband Convergence Network in 2004. Through a public-private sector partnership project, the government intends to have by 2010 a network environment ready for premium multimedia services of an unparalleled standard.

Coming to the realization of the need to expand the coverage of high-speed internet service, from 1998, the Korean government started to look into ways of providing the most economical type of service, best adapted to Korean realities. In late 1999, common carriers took the cue from government and committed huge investments to high-speed internet subscriber networks, giving Korea the world best high-speed internet infrastructure.

The corporate/government tandem in Korea worked as smoothly with CDMA. Once the debate on mobile communications technological standards came to an end within the government, and clear directions for development and commercialization of CDMA were established, the government, research institutes and carriers came together to knit close collaborative ties. The timely development of the CDMA system and devices, and the earlier than expected commercial rollout, owed much to this propitious chemistry at work across the Korean society.

The fast-expanding e-commerce market and ever-fiercer competition for its shares are producing a tremendous impact on the world economy, shaking the structures of industry and employment to their foundations.

As the view becomes widely accepted that e-commerce is a powerful tool to boost competitiveness for businesses as well as for the country itself, and that it can enhance the quality of life for individuals, we are seeing efforts to spur e-commerce stepped up all around us.

Thanks to the joint efforts by government and the private sector for the informatization of traditional industries, Korean e-business has grown at a stunning rate. The progress in informatization was especially remarkable among traditional mainstay industries such as steel, electronics, shipbuilding, automobiles and textile. This process fueled the IT industry to make it a new growth engine for the national economy and, on the other hand, assigned it the status as a basic industry, crucial for the overall economic competitiveness.

What is the driving force behind the Korean digital revolution One of the answers to this question so often asked by admirative foreign corporations is Korean consumers assion for speed and their innate temperament of igital nomads

Digital culture could not have taken hold in Korea as fast as it did, nor have been as readily embraced, without a broad base of open-minded consumers responsive to new and innovative devices and technologies. Korean consumers, appreciative of the faster network and ease of internet access offered by portable digital devices, were quick to adopt these offers to make them part of their everyday environment.

This is also one reason why Korea is considered by leading high-tech companies worldwide as a prime test bed for cutting-edge products before market release. Adoption and acceptance behaviors among Korean consumers have become a reference to turn to for all businesses poised to develop new cutting-edge products.

In the Global Information Technology Report 2004-2005 issued by the World Economic Forum, Korea was ranked 2nd globally in cutting-edge technology use rate.