CNN video series: Eye on South Korea
See the 21 three-minute CNN videos below about cutting-edge Korea today.
The videos play one after another on the site.
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/12/eosk.video/index.html
These are some of the most interesting videos on the CNN site.
Tomorrow's technology is today
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/12/eosk.video/index.html
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/12/eosk.video/index.html
Digital Korea: Convergence of Broadband Internet, 3G Cell Phones, Multiplayer Gaming, Digital TV, Virtual Reality, Electronic Cash, Telematics, Robotics, E-Government and the Intelligent Home by Tomi Ahonen and Jim O'Reilly (June 6, 2007)
Digital Korea is a study of the most advanced country for digital convergence, South Korea. Much of what we see in South Korea today sounds like science fiction -- but forms the solid reality of life in South Korea today. Thus, it is a great source of ideas and insights which we can learn from. The book discusses a country where every household internet connection has already been upgraded to broadband; where 100 mbit/s speeds are already sold and gigabit speeds already coming; where every phone sold is a cameraphone; where three out of every four mobile subscriptions is a 3G connection; where cars and PCs and mobile phones now ship with in-built digital TVs; where 42% of the population maintain a blogsite and four out of ten have created an avatar of themselves; where over half of the population pay with cellphones and 25% of the total South Korean population have participated inside a multiplayer online game, in fact inside the same multiplayer online game.
The stories from South Korea are each more amazing than the last. 50,000 citizen journalists write the national Ohmy News newspaper. While Second Life fascinates western media for its 2 million users, South Korean Cyworld has 20 million users. While we tend to view the 8 million active users of the World of Warcraft as a milestone in massively multiplayer online games, South Korean Lineage already has 14 million active gamers. And perhaps most telling of all -- the South Korean government is convinced every Korean home will have a household robot within ten years. Household robots? Not just cleaning our homes and providing security, but reading bedtime stories to our kids and helping them with their homework too.
Digital Korea includes chapters on all these issues and more with the state-of-the-art latest products and services described in detail. This is one of the first attempts to understand the current state of digital convergence, ubiquitous computing, and the information society that is South Korea. The book is called simply 'Digital Korea', but its subtitle is long as the stories in the book are so wide-reaching: Convergences of broadband internet, 3G cellphones, multiplayer gaming, digital TV, virtual reality, electronic cash, telematics, robotics, e-government and the intelligent home. The research for the book took a long time as so many different fields had to be covered. But the resulting book is now the most up-to-date view of that exact point where science fiction meets science fact. What happens when virtual reality meet the real world, with wireless reach and broadband speed? The book is packed with statistics and case studies and Tomi's famous "Pearls". As an interesting method, they have also often placed two rival statistics side-by-side, such as "In 2006 in USA 10% of music sales was digital" according to IFPI, and next to it on the opposing page "in 2006 in South Korea 57% of music sales was digital" also according to IFPI. This kind of comparisons help illustrate just how much of a lead South Korea has been able to pull.
South Korea on the cutting edge
An interview with technology blogger Danny Kim
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/tech/2007/10/14/lustout.eok.intv.kim.tech.cnn
This is the link to Danny Kim's Techno Kimchi site: http://technokimchi.com/
http://technokimchi.com/entry/I-was-on-CNN
An article about Danny Kim appeared in the May 2008 issue of Korea Policy Review at:
http://www.korea.net/kois/eng_bal_read.asp?magazine_no=4
Shows why Korea was able to modernize so quickly
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/10/12/eosk.video/index.html
When you visit Korea, you arrive at Incheon International Airport which is a short distance from the capitol.
Incheon International Airport was voted best or came in tied for second in 2007, depending on which survey you check.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2008-03-02-airport-checkin_N.htm
Incheon voted world's best airport
Seoul's Incheon International is the world's best airport, says a recent service-quality survey by Geneva-based Airports Council International. Among the airport's unique amenities are Korean-style spas, a hospital and pharmacy, upscale shops, a golf course and day trips to nearby tourist attractions such as Panmunjom, the heavily-fortified region north of Seoul that borders North Korea.
http://www.korea.net/news/news/newsView.asp?serial_no=20080403017&part=109&SearchDay=
Incheon Airport named world's best for 3 consecutive years
Korea's Incheon International Airport has been internationally recognized once again. Incheon International Airport was named the world's best airport in the Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality Awards held on Apr. 1 in Shanghai, China. In a council survey of 200,000 users at 99 world airports, Incheon took the top spot in 30 out of 43 categories, taking top honors in the "worldwide" category for 2007, followed by Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur International and Singapore's Changi in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) Survey, which was conducted by the industry body Airports Council International (ACI).
Incheon also came in first place in 2005 and 2006, becoming the first airport to win the best worldwide award for three straight years. The awards recognize customer service efforts made by airports taking part in the ACI program and are based on responses to a survey of passengers conducted throughout the year. The survey captures passengers' immediate appraisal of 34 airport service factors including airport access/navigation and connectivity, airport services/facilities, security and immigration, airport environment, arrival services, value for money and overall satisfaction with the airport and airline services.
Besides being named the best airport overall, Incheon International Airport has also gained honors in three other categories as well. It was named the best airport in the Asia-Pacific region, the best airport in the medium- to large-sized airports carrying between 25 and 49 million passengers, and given the best airport staff award in the Asia-Pacific region. In commenting on Incheon's performance, Program Director of the ACI, Craig Bradbrook said, At Incheon, the management team takes pride in delivering quality airport service and sees it as being part of the overall tourism value chain, which is good for their airport and their nation. That means that the commitment is given very high priority politically as well as operationally by the airport.
Lee Jae-hee, CEO of the Incheon International Airport, said he was grateful to the 35,000 employees at the airport who worked very hard to provide the best service and said he along with the employees would continue efforts to retain the top spot. The airport serves as a hub for international civilian air transportation and cargo traffic in East Asia. Incheon International Airport is considered Asia's most technologically-advanced airport with its security facilities being state-of-the-art and inspection equipment being very modern.
By Han Aran
Korea.net Staff Writer
http://www.korea.net/news/news/NewsView.asp?serial_no=20080603014&part=104&SearchDay=
Incheon airport named world's best again
June 03, 2008
Korea's Incheon International Airport has been internationally recognized several times this year already, since it was named the world's best airport in the Airports Council International (ACI) Airport Service Quality Awards in April and named the world's best in a survey conducted by the U.S.-based monthly magazine Global Traveler in January. Once more, the airport has received a top evaluation. This time the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has ranked the nation's Incheon International Airport as the world's best. IATA said its 240 member carriers from over 130 countries granted the Korean airport the highest honor of Eagle Award this year at the 64th IATA annual general meeting in Istanbul, Turkey on June 2.
The prestigious award has been presented annually since 1998 to recognize airports that provide outstanding service to their airline customers. Previous winners include Singapore's Changi Airport, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in the U.S., and Britain's Manchester Airport. In awarding the Incheon International Airport, Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO, said, Incheon International Airport has led the industry in operational excellence, customer service, and cost-efficiency improvements. It had the good sense to listen to its customers to agree to a reduction in charges.
In 2007, Incheon proposed significant increases in charges but after a successful consultation process, a 3-year pricing agreement was reached that resulted in a 10% reduction in landing charges for the duration of the agreement and cost savings of $75 million for airlines. Incheon adopted a proactive and successful approach to a difficult issue. They are a shining example for other airports to follow, Bisignani added.
After the award ceremony, Lee Jae-hee, CEO of the Incheon International Airport, said he and 35,000 employees at the airport would continue their efforts to provide the best service to retain the top spot. The airport serves as a hub for international civilian air transportation and cargo traffic in East Asia. Incheon International Airport is considered Asia's most technologically advanced airport with its state-of-the-art security facilities being and cutting edge inspection equipment.
By Han Aran
Korea.net Staff Writer
http://blogs.usatoday.com/sky/2008/03/airport-check-i.html
http://www.worldairportawards.com/Awards_2007/Airport2007.htm
THE 2007 WORLD AIRPORT AWARDS
International travellers have voted Hong Kong the world's best airport in the World Airport Awards ... the final results being the most closely contested in the history of this global passenger survey
Hong Kong International Airport has been named best airport in the world, in the worldwide passenger survey results released today by Skytrax.
For the first time in the history of this World Airport Survey, second place was tied and is awarded jointly to Seoul Incheon and Singapore Changi airports. "We congratulate the Award-winning airports, whose standards of customer service have received a very clear vote of passenger confidence and satisfaction" said Skytrax CEO, Mr Edward Plaisted. "This year's study proved to be the closest fought traveller survey we have ever conducted. When the interviews closed and data analysis was run, we thought we had a tie for first place amongst the top 3 airports. With the scale of survey interviews for this year, such a result seemed almost impossible. After an extended period of result checks, Hong Kong emerged as overall winner, with 2nd position shared jointly by Seoul Incheon and Singapore Changi" added Plaisted.
"Hong Kong has been a frequent, former winner of the Best Airport title, and their return to the top this year is testament to the quality of service being delivered across their front-line staff areas, together with the more functional aspects of an airport that depend upon delivering efficiency and consistency" said Plaisted. "This year in particular, our heartfelt congratulations go to Seoul Incheon and Singapore Changi who share 2nd place. It was very much a case of a 'photo finish' to determine the top 3 airports, and that is why Seoul and Singapore should be proud of their global achievement in the 2007 results." 
Top of passenger priorities in this survey were general ease of airport usage and waiting times. "Travellers expect security processing to incur some delays" said Plaisted, "but are disappointed - often annoyed - if the security facilities are inadequate. Waiting in line for 30 minutes to find only half available security scanners open was a frequently stated complaint." Passengers are spending more time in the airport environment nowadays, and many airports have reacted well to satisfying their needs. Whilst business travellers' look for speed and maximum time utilisation in the airport, it is leisure passengers that tend to make more use of, and enjoy an airport's facilities. "These are the people who notice how clean the washrooms are, how much seating is available, what prices are charged at food and beverage outlets, and how helpful the airport staff are."
In Europe, Munich remains the passengers' favourite airport, taking Best Airport Europe title and ranked 4th in the world. Zurich was another upward mover, 2nd in Europe and 5th globally (2006-8th, 2005-15th). Vancouver is named Best Airport North America, and in 9th place worldwide, is the only N American airport to feature in the top 10. The air traveller survey is conducted annually by aviation research organisation, Skytrax, and culminates in the announcement of the World Airport Awards.
The survey is based on more than 7.8 million detailed passenger surveys, covering over 170 airports, and conducted over an 11-month period throughout the world. Final passenger judging covers over 40 categories of product and service quality - items such as terminal cleanliness, staff efficiency and courtesy, terminal signage and walking distances, as well as features like shopping, dining options, internet services. Security processing and immigration waiting times were also a constituent factor of the survey.
