Speed of internet i korea

A few years back IDG Connect interviewed Linda Butcher, Director of Media Relations and Public Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute, and she consistently described the internet’s evolution as: “top-down”. Culturally, Koreans trust their government and each other a little more than most western citizens do—though they do turn out in droves to protest if they feel betrayed—so government-led initiatives are an important part of getting things done in Korea.

In 1995, South Korea had only one internet user for every hundred citizens. In that year, though, their government initiated the Korean Information Infrastructure project—a 10-year program that started with laying internet infrastructure between government buildings and rolled out country-wide broadband by 1998. By the year 2000, South Korea had connected nearly 20 million of its 45 million citizens—more than Japan (pop. in 2000: 127 million) or France (62 million), and almost as many as China (1.25 billion).

Today, thanks in large part to the government’s infrastructure and education initiatives the overwhelming majority of South Korea’s population has internet access. The government’s timely and well-executed internet policies gave it a huge head start, and they are continuing to pay off.