[kictanet] Korea

Tue Nov 8 19:08:48 EAT 2011

Dear all,

Vaguely related stuff with a hint of ICT, just in case you want some
distraction over a cup of (Kenyan!) coffee:

I've recently developed a bit of a weird obsession with North Korea after
after coming across the crazeballs Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang (have a look
here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryugyong_Hotel - it takes the concept of
a white elephant to a whole new level).

So I bought and read the fantastic 'Nothing to Envy' by Barbara Demick and
also 'North of the DMZ - Essays on Daily Life in North Korea' by Andrei
Lankov (both available as Kindle e-books, so a mere mouse click away).

It's intriguing that in the beginning, South Korea was actually less
developed than North Korea - but then caught up and overtook it at a
blazing speed. When my dad started working in the aid/development industry,
South Korea was still an aid recipient, now it is a donor, too.

South Korea is one of the most high-tech countries in the world - and North
Korea one of the most isolated. One of Lankov's essays looks at mobile
access in North Korea: heavily controlled, only for senior regime members
(although that may have changed now, as his book is a couple of years old).
Internet access is just as radically restricted. But during the famine, the
northern border to China became more porous, and even though North Korea is
still very cut off, technology has slowly seeped through the border as
electronic items are smuggled across. In the beginning, the global
transition from video tapes to DVDs created a surplus of videos that nobody
wanted anymore - apart from the North Koreans. And DVDs are easier to
smuggle than video tapes. South Korean content is very popular, and also
completely undermined the carefully nurtured propaganda that the
Southerners are poorer than the Northerners. Near the border, North Korean
can use foreign mobile networks, and also receive foreign broadcast
content.

Have a good evening,
Andrea

On 8 November 2011 17:52, william janak <williamjanak at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Dr. Ndemo,
>
> Thanks for the snap shot of Korea. Your description of what is happening
> in that country is most most interesting and of course a challenge to us in
> Kenya because we certainly can do much more to move the country from where
> it is.
>
> Oloo Janak.
>
> --- On *Tue, 11/8/11, bitange at jambo.co.ke <bitange at jambo.co.ke>* wrote:
>
>
> From: bitange at jambo.co.ke <bitange at jambo.co.ke>
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Korea
> To: williamjanak at yahoo.com
> Cc: "KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions" <kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke>
> Date: Tuesday, November 8, 2011, 9:19 AM
>
> I arrived in Korea yesterday for a Global e-Government conference.  ITU
> ranks Korea as number one in ICT diffusion.  From the airport you see
> people walk through with an e-passport using biometrics.  The New Incheon
> airport is 70 Kms west of Seoul, the capital and largest city of South
> Korea with some 11 million inhabitants. It is one of the largest and
> busiest airports in the world actually the world's fourth busiest airport
> by cargo traffic, and the world's eighth busiest airport in terms of
> international passengers in 2010.
>
> Korea is about 99,000 sq Kms or one half of the Rift Valley Province of
> Kenya with a population of 50 million and a GDP of $1 trillion (Kenya's
> GDP is about $35 billion).  In the 60's it was largely a donor recipient
> country with a GDP less than that of Kenya and more than 60% of its
> population below poverty.  They have turned tables to be a member of the
> OECD and a donor country over a short period.
>
> For many years it mostly depended on the USA as its largest trade partner
> but over a time they focused their energies on the Asian Markets.  Its
> trade with China, USA and Japan in 2010 figures stands at %190, $98 and
> $90 billion respectively.  They import a great deal of food and the reason
> why we should not lease our land but use it to improve on our economic
> growth.  A Kg of meat here is $100 imported from Canada and Brazil.
>
> I asked our Ambassador why we cannot sell our meat here.  He says we do
> not meat their standards.  This should not be a problem since we have
> broadband in most parts of the country that we can keep pace with the rest
> of the world in keeping the records especially those required by various
> standrds organization.
>
> Back to Korea.  ICTs are also deployed along the highways making it easier
> to go through the toll stations and collecting all the revenues.  You can
> get data from government at every hour.  You can for example know the
> number of children born in a day throughtout the country.  There is CCTV
> practically everywhere.  Crime is approaching zero.
>
> There is an over supply of affordable public transport via the rail and
> bus system all clean and on time.  If you choose to drive on your own, you
> are taxed at every new turn you make.  The tax from the polluters who
> cannot use public transport is used to subsidize the energy efficient
> public tranportation.
>
> Every child after high school has to go through the Military thus
> instilling the discipline required in this competitive world.  Because of
> such discipline, they do everything very fast.  We were literaly running
> behind our hosts to catch up with them.  In the Newspapers there is a Bank
> executive who has committed suicide because he gave questionable loans to
> friends.  He killed himself for shaming his family and that he may not
> have any friends.
>
> My experience here confirms much of what we have been saying in this
> forum.  The problem is how to inculcate such high levels of ethical
> standards as well as feeling of shame.
>
>
> Regards
>
>
> Ndemo.
>
>
>
>
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>
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> The Kenya ICT Action Network (KICTANet) is a multi-stakeholder platform
> for people and institutions interested and involved in ICT policy and
> regulation. The network aims to act as a catalyst for reform in the ICT
> sector in support of the national aim of ICT enabled growth and development.
>
> KICTANetiquette : Adhere to the same standards of acceptable behaviors
> online that you follow in real life: respect people's times and bandwidth,
> share knowledge, don't flame or abuse or personalize, respect privacy, do
> not spam, do not market your wares or qualifications.
>

-- 
Andrea Bohnstedt <http://ke.linkedin.com/in/andreabohnstedt>
Publisher
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