5282

November 4, 2004
Korea Times
By Kim Tae-gyu


South Korea ranks eighth in the global tech-savvy list, becoming the only nation in the Asia-Pacific region to scrape into the top-10.

US-based consulting firm IDC said Thursday Korea acquired 904 points in the Information Society Index (ISI) placing eighth, up four slots from last year.

The ISI is an annual measurement that combines 15 variables in four columns to quantify ability of 53 countries to access and absorb information and information technologies.

The four key areas include computers, Internet, telecom and social infrastructures.

Detailed factors that are considered are use of computers and the Internet, e-commerce, broadband and wireless subscribers, education level and government corruption.

Korea has been a chart-buster in the ISI as the nation improved from 19th back in 2001 to 12th last year, before eventually moving into eighth.

In the overall standings, Denmark topped the list with 963 points, dethroning the three-time consecutive reigning champion Sweden, which came in as the runner-up with 958 points.

The U.S. came in third with 938 points, followed by Switzerland with 929 points, Canada with 925 points, Netherlands with 919 points and Finland with 911 points. Norway (899) and Britain (870) barely made it into the top 10.

At the bottom of the table were technologically less-developed societies like Indonesia, Vietnam, India and Turkey.

In the Asia-Pacific region, only Korea earned bragging rights to claiming a spot in the global top 10. Hong Kong and Australia each ranked 11th and 12th while Japan and Taiwan came in 18th and 20th, respectively.

Among the four columns for the index, telecom and the Internet have driven Korea into the upper reaches of the table with the nation placing first and fifth in the sub-ranking.

Korea boasts the world’s best high-speed Internet penetration ratio, with over 11 million households connected to the always-on Internet.

The nation’s mobile phones subscribers also reach more than 36 million, or about 75 percent, of the population of 48 million.

In comparison, Asia’s third-largest economy clung to the disappointing 20th and 23rd spots in computer and social infrastructure, respectively.



voc200@koreatimes.co.kr