There is an old Korean saying: “10 years’ time is long enough to transform the entire landscape of rivers and mountains. This time-honored proverb seems more relevant to contemporary people living in 2013 than ever before because the ICT (information and communication technology) industry, which was born at the tail of the personal computer (PC) industry in the 1980s, grew in size in the 1990s with the addition of the Internet industry. Then, the emergence of mobile computing devices in the 2000s, coupled with that of smartphones in the late 2000s, has resulted in a sea change in contemporary people’s life quality and systems across the social spectrums.
Above all, smartphone-based ICT has been inseparably intertwined with modern day life as South Korea’s smartphone penetration rate, which stood at a mere 2% in 2009, exceeded 70% last year. Therefore, nations around the world are busy working on the development of ICT in order to upgrade ICT and add more convenience to daily life. Besides, the number of smartphone users has been on a sharp upward trajectory. Advances in ICT, the driving force behind such changes, require more than industry and academia’s efforts for ICT development and research. There should be a coordinator, who draws up international ICT standards in order to streamline all different sorts of ICTs, developed independently by each nation under varying circumstances. As of now, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies, is playing the role of an international ICT coordinator.
The ITU, originally founded as the International Telegraph Union back in 1865, became the leading specialized agency of the UN for information and communication technologies in 1947, currently with a membership of 193 member states (35 nations in the Americas, 54 European nations, 54 African countries and 50 Asian and Oceanian countries) and nearly 840 private-sector members (Sector Members, Associates and Academia).
Through close cooperation with member states, the ITU, based in Geneva, Switzerland, manages all types of communications means (including wired communications, radio waves, TV broadcasting and satellite frequencies); coordinates the shared global use of the radio spectrum; assists in the development and coordination of worldwide information and communications standards; promotes the protection of the Internet and information; and establishes standards for industrial, economic and technical issues. The ITU is also active in carrying out researches on ICTs, adopting resolutions, drawing up recommendations and providing ICT information. Furthermore, the ITU joins hands with international financial and development institutions so as to improve the quality of life by upgrading telecommunications infrastructure in isolated areas in the developing world.
Recently, the ITU has been playing a pivotal role in areas like TV broadcasting, space research, emergency telecommunications, satellite-based meteorology, Global Positioning Systems (GPS), and environmental monitoring. On top of that, in the face of problems arising from a surge in communications services, the ITU takes the lead in enhancing international cooperation in assigning limited resources – i.e. satellite orbits and radio frequency spectrums.
South Korea’s ties with the ITU date back to 1952 when the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication of South Korea (now the Ministry of Information and Communication) became a signatory to the ITU. After that, Korea Telecommunication Association (now KT) was founded to head up ITU standardization activities and teletype communications between Seoul and Busan kicked off in December of the same year. With the start of TV broadcasting in 1956, South Korea sank its teeth into building communications networks nationwide. These days, South Korea, undeniably one of the world’s ICT powerhouses, has continued to raise its profile at the ITU since it joined the ITU board of directors in 1989. Since 2000, South Korea, currently making preparations to become a member of the ITU Council, has been recognized as one of the front-runners in international ICT standardization, as evidenced by many South Koreans taking up positions with the ITU. For instance, Dr. Kyu-Jin Wee served as Chairman of Committee 3 of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference 2010 and Chairman of ITU-R TG8/1 WG4 during 1997-1999 and has been Vice-chair of ITU-R WP5D since 2000.
South Korea has continued to join forces with the ITU in order to narrow the information gap across the world. It is playing a leading role in the global information and communications sector by launching various collaborative projects for developing nations - for instance, providing African nations with Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (T-DMB) technology and assisting African nations and Asia-Pacific nations in drawing up roadmaps for analog switch-offs (also called the digital television transition, which involves the conversion of analogue terrestrial television to digital terrestrial).
The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference can be called the ICT Olympics.
The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference -- the top ICT policy-making event where ministerial-level officials from the ITU’s 193 member states get together to decide on ICT-related policies -- can be called the ICT Olympics since it takes place every four years. It has taken 20 years for the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, which was so far held 18 times in five regions (the Americas, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region), to return to the Asia-Pacific region. Japan was the last Asian nation to host the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, which was back in 1994. Thus, the selection of Busan as the venue of the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, the world’s 19th and Asia’s 2nd Plenipotentiary Conference, can be understood as the international community’s appreciation of South Korea’s advanced ICT prowess.
The 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference (or PP-14 Busan), scheduled to be held for three weeks from October 20 to November 7, 2014 at BEXCO, Busan, is expected to be attended by nearly 3,000 government representatives (including over 150 ministerial-level officials) and representatives from private institutions. In addition, on the sidelines of the PP-14 Busan will be held special ICT events, such as ICT Industrial Exhibition, Global ICT Conference and Korean Cultural Festival, which are expected to be partaken in by over 300,000 visitors (including those from industry and academia, the press and general visitors). Those special events, designed to showcase South Korea’s ICTs and services in front of ICT policy makers from around the world, are likely to contribute to the spread of “smart” Hallyu (or the Korean wave) to the rest of the world.
The ITU Plenipotentiary Conference is organized every four years by the ITU to review the past four years’ project performance and decide on policies and budgets for the next four years, to make amendments to the ITU Constitution and Convention and to elect five senior members of the organization (including the Secretary-General). The final acts of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference includes amendments to the ITU Constitution and Convention, which will be either ratified by each member state’s legislative body or authorized by foreign affairs departments. As for the agenda of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, discussions revolve around reports filed by the board of directors and member states’ suggestions on policies and strategies aimed to fulfill the ITU’s goal: to maintain and expand international cooperation among member states in order to revamp all types of telecommunications and promote reasonable use of communications resources.
Limbering up for the PP-14 Busan, the South Korean government has made up its mind to lead international debate on pending issues (including satellite frequencies, communications standards, cyber security and Internet-related issues) and to make the nation’s ICT and infrastructures better known globally. The government expects that such efforts will translate into a rise in the export of domestic ICT, products, services and even Hallyu to overseas markets, therefore spreading Korea’s ICT-based “creative economy” model across the world.
In particular, the PP-14 Busan is anticipated to successfully project future-oriented Busan as a “smart city” well equipped with state-of-the-art ICT infrastructures and conference facilities. Moreover, the PP-14 Busan is expected to create high value-addeness either directly or indirectly by priming the pump of the local economy (including the ICT, tourism and convention industries). The Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) predicts that expected economic benefits, both direct and indirect, from South Korea’s hosting of the PP-14 Busan (including a pickup in the number of tourists to Busan and export growth on the back of an improvement in the nation’s brand image as an ICT powerhouse) would amount to KRW 700 billion.
The countdown to the PP-14 Busan has begun.
With the PP-14 Busan a year away, the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (MSIP) of South Korea held “D-365 Ceremony” on October 21 at the Conrad Seoul in the Yeouido financial district.
At the D-365 ceremony, attended by ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré and Busan Mayor Nam-Sik Hur, collaboration agreements were signed among the MSIP, the ITU and host city Busan and a high-level advisory committee and a team of supporters were officially set up. The text of the joint preparation agreement, signed between the MSIP and Secretary-General Dr. Hamadoun Touré, had been reviewed by the cross-ministry preparatory committee as its covers transportation, safety and diplomatic protocols. The collaboration agreement struck between the MSIP and Busan states that the MSIP is the central government body that oversees the overall planning of the PP-14 Busan and host city Busan offers local support for matters related to transportation, culture and tourism.
The PP-14 Busan, designed to make decisions on future directions for ICT policy, is expected to allow Koreans to take a pride in South Korea’s international standing as an ICT powerhouse and to serve as an ICT festival solidifying national unity. What’s more, since huge resources, such as latest, cutting-edge technologies and manpower, are channeled intensively into host city Busan, the PP-14 Busan will work towards the revitalization of the local economy and the promotion of balanced regional development.
Just like South Korea notched up its international standing after the successful hosting of the 2010 G20 Seoul Summit and the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit, South Korea is anticipated to pull off the 2014 ITU Plenipotentiary Conference this time again, consequently making its presence deeply felt across the worldwide ICT sector and souping up the nation’s somewhat tepid ICT, science technology market, as well as the economy of Busan.
