ABSTRACT:
National Information Infrastructure Initiative in Korea: Vision and Policy Issues
Kuk-Hwan Jeong and John Leslie King. 1996, Information Infrastructure and Policy, 5(2)
The history of using voice communications in Korea goes back to the beginning of this century. Basic telephone service diffused in subsequent years, to the point that the goal of universal access had been achieved through the 80's. In contrast, computer technologies have been used for less than 30 years in Korea. The first computer used in Korea was an IBM 1401 installed by Economic Planning Board in 1967 for the purpose of national census. The 1980's marked the beginning of the recognition by the Korean government that information technology (IT) and its applications as infrastructure required attention at the national level.
By the 1980's IT use was promoted by government and some segments of the private sector through the national computerization project, called NBIS (National Basic Information System) project. This project resulted in successful implementations, but also suffered from several weaknesses, including lack of adequate funding, lack of strong industry capability, weakening of government support and failure to stimulate domestic demand. These weaknesses generated a widespread consensus for need to put refreshed efforts on the NBIS project, and a second stage of the project was begun in 1992. Nevertheless, problems remained. In particular, inadequate funding led to shortfalls in benefits. This led to further reconsideration and a demand for new policy actions. The result was a new policy initiative for a national information infrastructure (NII), which was arose in response to plans developed by the U.S. and Japan.
The Korea NII arose from fear that a failure by Korea in building information infrastructure would hurt basic industries to the point that the might not be able to compete in the global marketplace, leaving the nation farther behind developed countries. This concern extended to production industries such as computers, telecoms, components, and semiconductors, which might be left behind by the global production system, with a subsequent loss of export and import substitution opportunities. In addition, there was concern that user service industries would not be able to gain quick access to the latest technologies and become less competitive. The new NII initiative in Korea resembles the NBIS project, and at least in potential will repeat many of the same mistakes of following a centrally coordinated plan in a field where more decentralized strategies would make more sense.
This paper presents the Korea's NII initiative as an evolution of the NBIS project, identifying similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses. We will argue that the new NII initiative should emphasize both demand and supply strategies that reinforce one another for maximum leverage and synergy. The NII is seen as a part of national economic policy. The initiatives provide the tools for competitiveness, and thus economic development, in a globalized economy. This view is based on the assumption that competitiveness will arise from the ability of each entity in the economy to develop, acquire and adapt new and state-of-the-art information and communication technologies as tools that will be available on and through information networks.
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