South Korea, once poorer than communist North Korea, now has the world’s 13th largest economy.
South Korea is at the leading edge of the digital revolution. It is a trailblazer for high-speed and wireless internet. Nearly 37.5 million out of a total population of 48 million were online by June 2009. The country is a pioneer of TV via mobile devices and the internet. Online gaming is a national passion.
Last week the New York Times stated that by the end of 2012,, South Korea intends to connect to connect every home in the country to the Internet at one gigabit per second. That would be a tenfold increase from its present standard and 200 times as fast as the average household setup in the United States. In a pilot program there in five cities, each customer pays less than $27 per month.
Their average Internet connections are far faster than even number 2 Hong Kong and number 3, Japan, according the Internet analyst Akamai Technologies.
South Koreans presently pay an average of $38 a month for connections of 100 magabits a second, while Americans pay an average of $46 for service that is much slower. President Obama referred to their greater ability in his State of the Union address last month.
The idea of the gigabit Internet is not a new one. Hong Kong and Japan offer gigabit service and Australia has a plan in the works for 2018. Google is drafting pilot programs and Chattanooga, Tenn. Has started a citywide gigabit service, but the staggering price is $350 per month.
Private South Korean firms, notably KT (the former Korea Telecom), SK Telecom and the cable provider CJ Hellovision are the principal participants in the gigabit project.
SK Communications, the internet company that that operates Cyworld has long been claiming credit for providing the blueprint for global services like Facebook and My Space.
Last November, the Korea Times published an article describing how Cyworld, South Korea's social networking kingpin was being invaded by popular foreign services like Facebook and Twitter.
Established in 1999, Cyworld provided the social networking industry in Korea with one of its mega-success stories, exploiting the digital-camera boom and demand for personal web pages to grow into a business that now boasts 25 million users.
In a related blog at that time, "On The Path To Revival", it is claimed that social networks have considerably revolutionized the Internet usage patterns, with some studies estimating that users now spend more time on social networks than on search engines.
South Korea TV soaps are popular across the region, including in China. They are part of the "Korean Wave" - the export of South Korean popular culture across Asia. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) noted in 2010 that South Korea is one of the few Asian nations where there is real news pluralism.
A global leader in science and technology, South Korea has a strong focus on education, with the world's highest estimated national IQ and ranked first in mathematics, science, problem solving and reading by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Even as Korea aims for greater, faster connectivity, Internet addiction is already a worrisome social issue here.