A restroom monitors the user health on a daily basis and forwards the data to the physician. A chair adapts itself to accommodate the shape of the body and posture of a movement-impaired user, or a user with special medical conditions. A refrigerator provides daily menus for people on dietary regimens. A ubiquitous world, where human beings, computers and objects in their environment are connected to each other on a real-time basis is no longer a thing of science fictions or a remote future. In Korea, this is about to become the everyday reality for its citizens.

Armed with the world top IT infrastructure, Korea now leads the world into the age of ubiquitous computing. Korean people are already moving a step closer into the new age, becoming bitizens every day a little more.

Ubitizens or ubiquitous citizens are by definition free, free from both spatial and temporal constraints. Ubiquitous citizens, even if they are not computer-savvy, can still enjoy the benefit of informatization as freely and in as unlimited a manner as anyone else. This unprecedented freedom is precisely what u-Korea is about.

- Home networking will make it possible to control all appliances and electronic devices within a house from remote locations. Retrieving information from home will become just as easy.

- Intelligent robots will perform household tasks like an additional member of the family, leaving people more time to devote to more meaningful activities and to enjoy life.

- Customizable online administrative services will be provided around the clock through PC, mobile phone and DTV. The Broadband Convergence Network will make these services accessible speedily and in a permanent fashion, and mobile network-based wireless connection will remove all spatial and temporal constraints. The environment will be ready for smooth operation of space-convergence-type services, linking online and offline space using sensing technology and chips, and other intelligent services.

- To increase transparency and efficiency of the government through knowledge and information sharing between the public and private sectors, policies and administrative information will be disclosed online on a real-time basis, and citizens will be invited to participate in policy debates through online channels using mobile devices.

- E-commerce will be universally used and also become more efficient thanks to innovations like the introduction of virtual currency and mobile payment processing. New channels and devices of transactions will appear, making this marketplace easier to use as well as offering novel business opportunities.

- Inventory management and logistics using RFID/USN will maximize corporate efficiency. Informatization, currently limited to transaction processes, including B2B and B2C, will be extended to cover the entire operation, from production to distribution, transactions and inventory management. This will enable businesses to optimally manage processes and to provide consumers with intelligent and customizable real-time services.

Over the past 10 years, IT has been an innovative force driving changes in our society at a political, economical as well as social and cultural level. IT has brought about profound and irreversible transformations not just in corporate activities, but also in our ways of thinking and living.

The internet has provided a revolutionary new space for political life in our society, forever changing the way election campaigns are run, grassroots movements are operated and public opinion is monitored by policymakers. The internet has also been the source of a new dynamic order for civic society and supplied various platforms for public debate. The economic effects of IT have been just as momentous. Informatization has driven up productivity in traditional industries and lowered transaction costs, transforming them into high value-added industries. The national economy has also enorOverseas IT Support Centersly benefited from the emergence of new IT-using industries. On a social and cultural level, applications like e-mail and online communities have made the Korean society more diverse and open by accelerating information exchange and promoting horizontal two-way communication.

Meanwhile, we are inevitably experiencing certain unwanted consequences as well. Digital divide between socio-economic groups, hacking, computer viruses and the proliferation of inappropriate online material are some of them. The privacy of personal information and reliability of transactions are crucial parameters for the success of e-government services as well as e-commerce, and finding effective solutions to both problems is one of the Korean government top priorities.

Reating a Humane and Equitable Digital World is the fullest expression of the vision guiding the Korean government IT policy. The Korean government will continue to seek ways for IT to better serve its citizens in building a better future for Korea and endeavor to extend the benefits of IT to the Asia Pacific region, to cement the bond between APEC member economies and strengthen cooperation between them.