KISDI Vice President Chung Inuk was elected as a new chair for the APEC TEL Working Group

At the 31st APEC Telecommunications and Information (TEL) Working Group Meeting held in Bangkok, Thailand from 4 to April 8, 2005, Dr. Inuk Chung (Vice President of KISDI) was elected as the new APEC TEL Chair for the next two years.

APEC TEL is one of the most productive APEC working groups focusing on a wide range of ICT related issues including e-government, internet security, information infrastructure, digital divide, human resources development, training as well as trade/investment liberalization in the field of ICT. APEC TEL also plays a role in promoting cooperation among APEC 21 member economies.

The unanimous decision to elect Dr. Chung Inuk as the new APEC Chair was based on his dedication to APEC TEL as the Vice Chair for the last two years and his wide experience in bilateral and multilateral cooperation. The Korean government's contribution to TEL was also recognized.

The role of the Chair of APEC TEL representing the organization in other international conferences is to monitor activities of 4 working groups and 2 task force teams within TEL, nominate a vice chair and conveners of working groups, approve new works, and decide next meeting venues. He/she also plays a leading role in cooperating with the secretariat of APEC.

This achievement clearly demonstrated how successfully the Korean Ministry of Information and Communication and KISDI (Korea Information Strategy Development Institute) have been working in the area of international cooperation in IT. The Ministry has been committed to promoting international cooperation through multilateral diplomatic channels such as APEC and OECD by actively developing policies for broadband principles, digital divide and standardization issues and increasing an awareness of Korea as an IT powerhouse in the world. KISDI has also put its priority on strengthening international cooperation in IT and undertaken a large number of projects.

As Dr. Chung Inuk became the Chair of APEC TEL, the status of KISDI, Korea and APEC as well is expected to be enhanced in the 6th APEC TELMIN scheduled for June 2005 in Lima, Peru and the 2nd WSISII in November 2005. In particular, the Republic of Korea, as the Chair country of APEC in 2005 will host the 32nd APEC TEL in September and the APEC Summit in November this year, which will help strengthen the national status as a leading IT country.

KISDI researchers including Dr. Seo Bo-hyun, Chief of APII Cooperation Center, Dr. Chang Bum-jin (Deputy Convener of APEC TEL Working Group on Liberalization), Research Associate Paik Ji-won, Ra Hang-ryul and Researcher Lee eun-gyung participated in the 31st APEC TEL Working Group Meeting and were actively engaged in discussions on an IT-enabled disaster warning system, a response to address side effects of the information society, principles of broadband and cooperation in NGN, which had relevance to policy development for the Korean IT industry. Moreover, the Korean delegation called for active participation from member countries in the 32nd APEC TEL scheduled for September 5~ 10, Seoul, Korea.