[kictanet] Korea

Tue Nov 8 21:41:17 EAT 2011

Hey all,

Thanks for all this informative resources. Mine if I would put it plainly,
is we are thankfully on track.

If evidence of what has taken place especially in the last 8-10 yrs is
anything to go by, we are right on track. 

We perhaps may exactly not be on the same blazing or lightning speed as our
distant South East Asia cousins

who not only rightfully seized their opportunities at the opportune moment
when those opportunities came calling,

but have been consistently keen to ensure that the gains accumulated to date
do not engage the reverse gear.

Look at the Telecommunication sector for example. In a short span of time,
look at where things stand now to 

begin with. Some of us remember then times when all traffic- voice + data
had to find their gateway exit via a 

central location ostensibly located somewhere on top of the Longonot in the
form of an earth station. Not sure

whether it still exists. However, back then it was a requirement that all
voice traffic emanating from the country

that tried to approach the gateway on the IP platform be stopped in its
tracks, I suppose by using the so-called

"killer-switch" because voice traffic was only allowed through Telkom. The
entire bandwidth for the country was 

about 512Mbps and we were all comfortable, so it seemed, at the time.

Then occasionally, a "blackout" would ensue whenever this single information
superhighway backbone went 

down, plunging the entire country into darkness and at the same time cutting
us off from the rest of the world

,sometimes for days..

Well, it's quite a narrative there that would go on and on, but the long and
short of it is simply to say that;  by

looking at where we stand now and by also looking at these countries making
giant strides in the right direction 

in their economies, when you have the right political support structure in
place to start with, then an awful lot of 

things really start to take shape. When the momentum is sustained, the
country starts experiencing phenomenal 

growth and, as this happens, others around start taking note.

Question;  Will we make it our business to see to it that the momentum we
have now is sustainable for the long

haul, by ensuring the politics side of the equation is fixed once and for
good, especially now with the new constitution

in place or will we, as has been always the case before, continue to remind
ourselves that politics has got nothing to 

do with us, we can leave it to the politicians? 

 I suppose not. Each one of us has a role to play.

Harry

From: kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+harry=comtelsys.co.ke at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On
Behalf Of Andrea Bohnstedt
Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2011 7:09 PM
To: harry at comtelsys.co.ke
Cc: KICTAnet ICT Policy Discussions
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Korea

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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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.

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