South Korea: High-tech hothouse

The country's dominant conglomerates, called chaebols, also are feeling the pressure to change. Politicians are calling for reforms of the chaebol systems, under which subsidiaries have traditionally offered discounts and other advantages to sister companies. While chaebols such as Samsung and Hyundai helped build the country, critics say their pervasive influence discourages start-ups and fair competition.

"We're trying to promote clean accounts and stop internal trades," said Sang-kyoo Choi, director of the International Cooperation Bureau of the Ministry of Information and Communication. "The chaebols can't enjoy the same benefits they did a few years back."

The reform-minded attitudes taking hold in the country are not likely to wane anytime soon among younger generations, because technology also is being used to improve South Korea's education system. In April, the country's public TV network began to Webcast free tutorials to help students prepare for the national aptitude test, Korea's version of the SAT.

High school students attend classes and often study past midnight to prepare for the testing season in November, which is a time of national anxiety. In the first Internet trial, 100,000 simultaneous streams were Webcast.

"We opened up a new use for the Internet," the Information Ministry's Chin said. In Korea, private tutoring is a huge financial burden on parents, Chin said.

Younger South Koreans have contributed significantly to the development of commercial broadband services as well, teaching communications companies that network speeds are not the only feature that subscribers look for. Cyworld, for instance, has become popular by offering personal blogs with "avatars," or icons that represent the user.

The site, which is part of the SK Telecom empire, had about 3 million visits a day in the third week of May alone, according to Rankey.com, a local tracking service. As of February, it had 6 million registrants, up from 3 million in May 2003.

Basic services are free, but consumers can enhance their avatars with virtual shoes or designer clothes and cars for fees ranging from 50 cents to $5. And nearly everyone does.

"In North America, most of the carriers' attitude is to consider their service as a utility," said Eric Kim, executive vice president in charge of global marketing at Samsung. "They talk about price per minute. They aren't talking about lifestyle."

Mike Siu of ZDNet Korea contributed to this report from Seoul.