1. Internet Usage by Individual
Over 56% of Individual in Korea who is older than 7 year old is using Internet regularly (see the Computing and Internet Diffusion) The pattern of Internet usages in Korea is briefly speaking, most of people(61%) access internet at home daily base via broadband Internet connection such as ADSL for the initial purpose of searching information.(1)
1.1 Location
61% of all respondents for survey by Korean Network information Center said that they mainly connect to the Internet at home (December 2001). There is noticeable drop in internet usage at PC Bang (Cyber Cafe or Game Room) by 6.9%. This figure can be attributed to the growing broadband connections at home and the general pattern of users preferring to surf the Internet at home. In addition, the changes in purpose of Internet access for example searching educational information for children or online teaching materials may affect on the changes in Internet access location.
Location of Internet Usage
(Source: Korea Network Information Center)
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1.2 Access Type
The market share of Broadband connection such as xDSL services doubled in size from previous year(2000). xDSL service is the most common type of Internet connection whereas leased lines was the most common way people to connect to Internet. This is related to Korea's unique housing patterns under which 40 % of Koreans live in apartment where allows easy deployment of LAN (2)
Types of Internet Connections
(Source: Korea Network Information Center)
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1.3 Frequency of Internet Usage
62.4% of internet users replied that they use the internet at least once a day. the frequency that people log onto the Internet is increasing
Frequency of Internet Usage
(Source: Korea Network Information Center)
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1.4 Purpose of using Internet
42.3% of all respondents said that they access Internet in order to search for information or research. Since 1999, the portion of searching for information or research as a main purpose of internet usage is decreasing meanwhile e-mailing, and internet banking, community activities and entertainments such as listening to music and watching movie are increasing gradually. This trend also appears in most popular contents type.
Main Purpose of Internet Usage
(Source: Korea Network Information Center)
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2. Internet Usage by Companies
In survey conducted in July 2001 by National Computerization Agency (3), 44 % of companies with 5 or more employees, have a network or plan to build one. Currently 80.3% of all financial and insurance companies have a network infrastructure and have more network than any other industry. Companies in the service industry had the next highest rate followed by construction companies, chemical companies, heavy industry and so on.
Status of network Infrastructure
(Source: National Computerization Agency)
Companies with Internet Access by Industry
(Source: National Computerization Agency)
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Among the total of 362,326 companies with 5 or more employees, 217,682 of them (60.1% have access to the Internet. 99.4% of companies with more than 1000 employees and 97.7% of firms with 300~999 employees have internet connection. As the size of company is bigger, the % of Internet connection is increasing.
Size of Companies with Internet Access
(Source: National Computerization Agency)
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Among the 217,682 companies with Internet access, 55% use an ADSL. It seems that the cheap cost for installation and stability of connectivity affect on decision for internet connection type.
Type of Internet connection
(Source: National Computerization Agency)
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2.1 Internet Usage
Companies seems to use internet as a communication tools both within organization and with other organization or public. In addition, the survey in January and July in 2001 showed that 34,865 companies (9.6% of all firms in Korea) have engaged in e-commerce. the % of companies who involve in electronic commerce differs from the size of firms. Apparently larger firms engage in e-commerce more widely than smaller firms. Companies with more than300 employees represent the largest majority of business engaging in e-commerce.
e-Commerce Usage by Company Size
(Source: National Computerization Agency)
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3. Internet Usage by Government (e-Government)
Strong IT infrastructure such as top ranked broadband internet access and larger internet user bases now contributes as the foundation for the Korean government to putting its utmost efforts into transforming into electronic government. As a result Korea has been ranked as one of the top 15 nations for leading e-government initiatives in biannually released survey, ``benchmarking e-Government: A Global Perspective,¡¯¡¯ (4)
In Korea, e-government is being implemented fast with the participation of the National Computerization Agency, the advisory organization providing the government with appropriate e-government policies and technologies.
Korean government has set up the 11 strategic initiatives expecting to be competed by end of 2002: government e-service center, social insurance service portal, a government-wide e-procurement system, Home Tax Service, national finance information system, integrated administrative information system of local governments, educational administrative information system, personnel policy management system, government e-document exchange, government e-Signature and e-Seal system, and government information system. (5)
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3.1. Government to Consumer/Citizen (G2C)
Aimed to more effective and efficient public administration and enhanced transparency, Korean government open the integrated public affair website, called electronic government (www.egov.go.kr) in November 2002. This site collaborates most of the public administration and allows the citizen to on-stop process and track the whole process.
This site consists of two sector: " transparent Government" providing financial status, national and regional policies, procurement information, electronic certification and electronic human resource allocation program, "Public administration fields" providing personnel, education, tax, health insurance, civil administration, military service, real estates, electronic library and supporting system for the cases of national disasters.
In addition, citizen can access their information and place the civil affairs anywhere in Korea without going to their hometown through administrative site at www.ebang.go.kr.
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3.2 Government to Business (G2B)
To Facilitate the e-procurement system with government sectors and to enhance the efficiency and transparency, Korean government also set up the site called "Government 2 Business" (www.g2b.go.kr)
This website offers information of market opportunity, virtual market place for procurement, bidding information, supplier/buyer information and information related to government to business polices (6). the site also provides e-certification, electronic signature, electronic payment methods supported by other government agencies
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3.3 Government to Government (G2G)
Korean government put continuous efforts to collaborate information among the agencies regional government offices, and branches and to integrate information with public sectors such as hospitals, libraries and schools
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Overall Concept of e-government plan by Korean Government
(Source: the figure is transformed from Korean to English by author. Original figure is available at http://guide.egov.go.kr/08_future/future01.html)
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(1) 2002 Korea Internet White paper by Ministry of Information and Communication at www.mic.go.kr/eng/jsp/main.jsp
(2) "Analysis of Factors Leading to Sharp increase Internet User In Korea", KRNIC's Internet Statistics Report
at http://stat.nic.or.kr/english/research.html
(3) National Computerization Agency
(4) "benchmarking e-Government: A Global Perspective,¡¯¡¯
Download available at www.unpan.org/e-government/Benchmarking%20E-gov%202001.pdf
(5) Informative site for e-Government at http://guide.egov.go.kr/index.html (Korean version)
(6) Government to Business at www.g2b.go.kr
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This site was developed for the class,
"Impact of National Information Technology Environments on Business"
at Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington DC
Created by Jung Im Won & Hyun Sang Park
Last updated : December 18, 2002
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