Asia's "info-Tigers" and "info-Falcons":
Is South Korea Loosing Its Place In The Cyberspace?

by
Dr T.Matthew Ciolek,
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies,
Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au

Document created: 15 Jul 2001. Last revised: 15 Jul 2001.


Originally published in:
Korean American Science and Technology News (KASTN), 01-26 (No. 303), July 25, 2001,
The Society of Korean-American Scholars, USA.
www.phy.duke.edu/~myhan/b_01-26.html

    ASIA'S "INFO-TIGERS" and "INFO-FALCONS":
   IS SOUTH KOREA LOOSING ITS PLACE IN THE CYBERSPACE?
    by
    T. Matthew Ciolek
    Head, Internet Publications Bureau
    Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
    Australian National University
    Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
    tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au
    http://www.ciolek.com/PEOPLE/ciolek-tm.html
    A Special Adviser to KASTN

    Statistics collected by the Internet domain survey conducted
    twice-yearly by the Internet Software Consortium (www.isc.org/ds/)
    suggest that not all countries of Asia are doing well in the
    cyberspace. The number of networked host machines residing in the
    ten most heavily networked countries (JP, TW, KR, HK, SG, CN, MY,
    TH, ID, PH) has grown from 90%  of the Asia's total in January
    1995 to 94% in January 2001.

    =============================================================
                Jan-95  %Asia   Jan-98    %Asia   Jan-01    %Asia
    -------------------------------------------------------------
    All 49 countries
    of Asia     167,934 100%    1,778,847 100%    7,196,844 100%

    Top Ten     151,402  90%    1,668,831  94%    6,787,429  94%
    =============================================================

    Of the top ten, the top 5 (JP, TW, KR, HK and SG) command
    91% of the total number of networked hosts in Asia, with
    Japan leading with 64%, followed by Taiwan with 15%.
    Taiwan has surged ahead of Korea who dropped to No.3.

    =============================================================
    Country     Jan-95  %Asia   Jan-98    %Asia   Jan-01    %Asia
    -------------------------------------------------------------
    Japan       96,632  58%     1,168,956 66%     4,640,863 64%
    Taiwan       4,618   3%       176,836 10%     1,095,718 15%
    S. Korea    18,049  11%       121,932  7%       397,809  6%
    Hong Kong   12,437   7%        66,617  4%       228,979  3%
    Singapore    5,252   3%        57,605  3%       175,799  2%
    =============================================================

    The next 5 (CN, MY, TH, ID, PH) trail the top 5 far behind.
    The first 5 may be called the "Info-tigers" whereas the second
    5 the "Info-Falcons" which account for a meager 3 % of Asia's
    total.

    =========================================================
    Country     Jan-95  %Asia   Jan-98  %Asia   Jan-01  %Asia
    ---------------------------------------------------------
    China         569   0%      16,322  1%      70,391  1%
    Malaysia    1,606   1%      32,269  2%      68,248  1%
    Thailand    1,728   1%      14,378  1%      63,447  1%
    Indonesia     177   0%       9,603  1%      26,727  0%
    Philippines   334   0%       4,313  0%      19,448  0%
    =========================================================
    All tables above are from "Electronic Environments of Eastern
    Asia." [a work in progress]. T. Matthew Ciolek, 2001.

    This means that the big league of info-Tigers (major Eastern
    Asian players) and info-Falcons (minor Eastern Asian players)
    is getting ever bigger. This also means that those countries
    which have been lagging behind in terms of the size of their
    electronic infrastructure have now an even larger gap to cope
    with in the decades to come.

    Of the top 5, two countries are falling behind, Hong Kong and
    South Korea. In Hong Kong the absolute numbers of the networked
    hosts have risen from an energetic 12,437 in January 1995 to an
    impressive 228,979 in January 2001. However, the overall
    participation in the Asia's networked world has dropped by four
    points from 7% in 1995 to a mere 3% in 2001. A similar reversal
    of fortune can be seen in the case of South Korea. There the
    drop is at a level of five points, from 11% in 1995 to a
    disappointing 6% in 2001.

    In a global world which increasingly often seeks-out and favors
    information- and services-based economies, this downward trend
    does not bode too well for the South Korea's future, whether
    electronic or brick-and-mortar one.



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