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"KOREA'S PRIDE"...

...please read the last sentences of this stuff!!

 

 

 

New technologies are the engine driving Korea’s economy, and 2006 will see a plethora of them chugging into full gear, from quantum cryptography to roll-up displays. The Chosun Ilbo asked industrial experts and state and private research institutes and discovered what will occupy tech-heads and savvy consumers this year.

 

◆Quantum Cryptography

Quantum cryptography prevents eavesdropping, a topic that has occupied people a great deal this year. The technology sends codified digital information in the smallest light unit, photons, and when the codes are attacked by the unauthorized, the light transforms into meaningless patterns, making it impossible to wiretap. A joint research team from the Korea Institute for Advanced Study and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute has succeeded in sending images that way over a 25 km distance in December last year and plans to demonstrate an upgraded version that is faster and much closer to commercial use.

 

◆Korean-Developed Drugs

Korea's own pharmaceutical technologies are expected to make a big leap next year. Dong-A Pharma recently won a patent for homegrown erectile dysfunction drug Zydena, the world's fourth, for the United States, Europe, Asia, and Central and South America. Its affiliate Dong-A Pharmtech will facilitate sales in the U.S. Ilyang Pharm signed a license agreement with U.S.-based TAP Pharmaceutical Products which grants TAP rights and technology transfer for anti-ulcer treatment Ilaprazole. Phase 3 clinical tests are in progress in China and five Southeast Asian countries.

LG Life Sciences entered the Japanese market with its quinolone antibiotic Factive, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The company was paid US$2 million and will be paid more for step-by-step technology transfer. It will also receive royalties based on sales performance in the next 10 years. Choongwae Pharma, meanwhile, signed a deal to export its new antibiotic Imipenem to Brazil.

 

◆Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting

Terrestrial Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) is another technology that will flourish next year. The service, started here in December, beams broadcasts to hand-held devices on the move. The government expects it will lead to a W4 trillion increase in industrial output and 30,000 new jobs by 2011.

Korean companies are taking the technology abroad next year. Korean-fostered DMB will start in Beijing, China in 2006 with special handsets being exported to China from February. Many companies, from giants Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics to medium and small firms, will be competing in the new market.

 

◆WiBro Mobile Internet Access

Korea’s mobile Internet service WiBro will go commercial in April. The country introduced the technology at the APEC Summit in November, allowing international leaders to experience WiBro content at first hand.

WiBro was recently selected as the international standard, a big boost to exports of the technology. Samsung Electronics has already clinched deals to supply WiBro equipment to Venezuela’s Omnivision, Japan’s KDDI, America’s Sprint Nextel, Italy’s T1, British Telecom and Brazil’s TVA.

 

◆The Multi-Purpose Utility Satellite Arirang 2

Arirang 2, which will be launched in May, is a symbol of Korean science and technology, though for technical reasons the launch was postponed from December. Korea ranks 20th in the world in the number of satellites it operates with seven, and produces its own.

The multi-purpose utility satellite will be equipped with a 1m-resolution optical camera -- producing images from orbit as detailed as looking down from Mt.Halla -- and will be used for ocean observation. Arirang 5, to be launched in 2008, will be equipped with radar to observe Earth day and night.

 

◆Flash Memory

The rise and rise of Flash memory chips, which store data even when the power is out and are so far mostly used in portable devices such as MP3 players and digital cameras, will continue next year.

Flash memory chips are among Korea’s leading products, and demand is so strong that companies cannot make them fast enough, with the shortage expected to continue next year. Samsung Electronics has a firm grip on 60 percent of the international market, and Hynix has a 10 percent share.

Having this year developed more efficient 50-nanometer technology for 16GB NAND Flash, Samsung will next year want to prove “Hwang’s Law,” an update of Moore’s Law named after its president Hwang Chang-kyu which insists that memory capacity doubles every year.

 

◆Optical Internet

2006 will be the year of 100-Mbps optical LAN, a high-speed Internet service using a short-distance network.

Powercom, a newcomer in the high-speed Internet business, first introduced the service, followed by KT and Hanaro Telecom. Optical LAN is about 10 times faster than the commonly used ADSL.

When optical LAN becomes the common standard, video via Internet will also gain huge popularity because the 100 Mbps speed means users can watch HD video without buffering. The Samsung Economic Research Institute says remote medical services, remote education and video security and other services will also become popular thanks to optical LAN.

 

◆Flexible Displays

Tough competition is expected over flexible displays, and the world’s leading display makers Samsung Electronics, Sony, Sharp and Phillips are staking their future on the product.

Flexible displays, when they become available, can be rolled up like a newspaper and carried around, and that will be a boon for users of laptops and other portable devices. The market is expected to grow to some $10 billion next year alone.

Samsung has already introduced a flexible LCD using a thin panel that does not warp when bent. But there is plenty of scope for development since the display, so far the world’s biggest, measures

only 7 inches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally sooner or later "Prof" Hwang (yeah, the creator of SNUppy) will arrive in Pyeongyang. Here he will clone Kim Il-sung and after the "suddenly" death of Kim jr. for the next 5,000 years (at least) the leadership (aka Kim Il-sung's) of DPRK will survive. Until someone will re-create Tangun... And then everyone (in Korea) will be happy...^^