GK:3.4.2 Telecommunications and Mass Communications
Geography of Korea: III. Production and Consumer Space > 4. Transportation and Telecommunications> 2) Telecommunications and Mass Communications
2) Telecommunications and Mass Communications
One result of South Korea’s rapid economic growth during the 1960s and 1970s was the chronic shortage of telephone lines, and by 1980 the country still only had about 2.8 million phone lines. However, through investments starting from 1981 about a million phone lines began to be added annually. In 1984, South Korea completed the world’s earliest digital long-distance switching network and by 1987 had completed installation of a fully automated telephone network nationwide with 10 million lines, ushering in the country’s “phone in every household” era. In the early 1980s—before the concept of data communications was even widely known—the Korea Data Communications Co., Ltd. (later LG Dacom) was established, and for mobile communications, in 1984 was launched the Korea Data Communications Service Corporation, which worked to expand the wireless calling network and introduced the first mobile phones. This then spurred the development of mobile phone units, and by 1995 sales of domestically produced phones surpassed Motorola and took the lead for the first time. In 1994, SK Telecom was privatized and in 1997, Korea Telecom, Hansol (both now merged as KT), and LG Telecom all introduced commercial services for personal mobile phones; now the era of mobile telecommunications had truly begun. With the advanced level of its cell phone technology, as of 2012 South Korea leads the world in the manufacture and shipment of mobile phones.
Looking at South Korea’s telecommunications use in terms of wired (landlines) and wireless communications and high-speed internet, landline users steadily increased up to the mid-1990s, when increasing mobile phone use resulted in a concomitant decline in landline subscribers. As of 2010, statistics revealed that mobile phone use had spread such that there were 100 mobile phone subscribers per 100 population, or one mobile phone subscription per person, and since that time subscribers have actually surpassed this. Subscribers to high-speed internet service have also shown a steady increase and as of 2012 there were about 38 subscribers per 100 population, which translates into about one high-speed internet subscription per household. The rapid strides made by South Korea’s telecommunications industry from the mid-1990s were such that in a 2002 National Informatization Index survey of fifty nations, South Korea was named a “Global Top Ten,” ranking number one in the world in terms broadband penetration and number four in number of broadband users (61 users per 100 population).
Looking at nationwide internet penetration by region, the capital region has the highest rate at over 80 percent, followed by the other large urban areas of Busan, Ulsan, Daegu, Gwangju, and Daejeon. And in terms of high-speed broadband internet access, this is also widely available in these metropolitan areas.
Further, the country’s high-speed broadband network forms an urban web, linking regional urban centers directly to the large metropolitan hubs. Mobile and internet communications are driving the growth of South Korea’s IT industry, which in turn is leading the country’s economic development, while the “digitization” and “informatization” of people’s daily lives is emerging as a core aspect of the nation’s social infrastructure. Importantly, integrated broadcast communication services, a combination of wired and wireless communications with internet technology, have made it possible to speed up various types of information communications. The essence of modern technological development is its eradication of spatial limitations, and with the growing use of smartphones and tablet PCs, the use of telecommunications for such things as shopping, education, healthcare, e-commerce, and “smart work” (telecommuting) is a dynamic trend.
The development of the internet has made possible the dissemination, in both audible and visual formats, of mass quantities of interactive and complex information with a profound impact on mass communications.
Traditionally, mass communications refers to newspapers and broadcasts, with newspapers providing reporting, commentary, editorials and other information on a wide field of political, economic, social, cultural, as well as specialized topics and which are typically disseminated at least twice a month under a single masthead. They can vary by publication type—general consumer publications, economics-focused, or specialized coverage, etc.—as well as by area of dissemination—nationwide (central newspapers) or limited to a given area (small, medium, or large town). Newspapers can also be categorized by publication frequency—dailies, weeklies, or internet newspapers. As of 2011, South Korea had fifteen central dailies (the most important type of newspaper) and 103 regional newspapers. In terms of circulation rates for the country’s largest dailies, the Chosun ilbo leads with 1,799,166, followed by the Joongang ilbo (1,300,354), Dong-A ilbo (1,198,069), Maeil gyeongje (900,135), and Hanguk kyungje (504,230). For regional newspaper circulation rates, Busan’s Busan ilbo leads with 177,481, followed by the Maeil sinmun, covering Daegu and Gyeongsangbuk-do province (150,450), the Kookje sinmun in Busan (97,284), the Kangwon ilbo covering Gangwon-do province (75,420), and the Yeongnam ilbo covering Gyeongsangbuk-do and Gyeongsangnam-do provinces (71,157).
Readership rates for print newspapers have been on the decline since about 1996. This decline can be attributed to the advent of new media and the increasing preference of readers to obtain their news from a paper’s website or other online news service rather than from traditional paper newspapers. One problem noted with this is that the homepages of news portal sites tend to be overwhelmingly dominated by entertainment or sports related articles. Broadcast media and public radio and television have also been affected by the increasing presence of cable broadcasting and the internet.
Korean broadcasting history goes back nearly ninety years. The country’s first radio broadcasting dates to February, 1927 during the Japanese occupation period and began as a means of promoting Japanese colonial policies. In the wake of Korea’s liberation in 1945, KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) radio started up as a state broadcasting organ and then in 1954 the nation’s first private radio station was established, the Christian Central Broadcasting (Gidokgyo jungang bangsong, today the Christian Broadcasting System), initiating the coexistence of state and private radio stations. Korea’s first telecast dates to 1956 with the establishment of the Korea RCA Distributor (KORCAD). KBS TV, the country’s first full-scale station, was established in 1961, followed soon thereafter by Tongyang Television (1964) and MBC-TV (1969), ushering in the “three-television-station” era. In 1980, the so-called “New Military Group” (a group of military officers headed by Chun Doo-hwan who had organized the 1979 coup against civilian rule), in a strategy of consolidating the nation’s media companies, merged Dong-A Broadcasting and Tongyang Broadcasting into KBS, and then through new press guidelines set about controlling media reports, ushering in the dark ages of South Korean media. At the same time, in December 1980 color television broadcasts made their first appearance. However, following the “June 29 Declaration” by then presidential candidate (later president) Roh Tae-woo that pledged significant democratic reforms, media freedoms were granted and new broadcasting companies began to be established. From 1990 private broadcasting companies started to sprout up in earnest—Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS), Pyeonghwa Broadcasting Corporation, Buddhist Broadcasting System, and the Traffic Broadcasting System, while the Educational Broadcasting System (EBS) broke off as an independent operator from its parent KBS. Early 1995 saw the launching of cable television as well as private regional television stations. In 2005, the world’s first satellite digital media broadcasting (DMB) service, and then terrestrial DMB, were launched, while in the following year regional providers for non-metropolitan areas and regional terrestrial DMB providers were decided upon and DMB broadcasting began there. Further, also in 2006, pilot service for IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) began broadcasting. Demand is growing for IPTV and DMB, which merge traditional broadcasting and telecommunications into new media content, and they are growing as the new central production base and cultural infrastructure. Internet broadcasting is supplanting traditional broadcasting and telecommunications as the new alternative media domain. Because of the peculiar characteristics of the internet, it is able to extend into the traditional media domains, while the internet can also extend the reach of broadcasting. In contrast to traditional forms of broadcasting, the internet is bidirectional and interactive while combining the functionality of print media, radio, and television. In 2011, four comprehensive programming channels (Chosun ilbo, Joongang ilbo, Dong-A ilbo, and Maeil gyeongje TV) were launched via cable television, satellite broadcasting, and IPTV, and with that the multi-media, multi-channel era had begun in earnest.
