BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(BUSAN = Yonhap News) South Korea outlined a series of diverse and high-tech events on Wednesday in preparation for a global conference on information technologies that it is hosting in October.

South Korea will host the 19th International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan, the country's largest port city 453 kilometers southeast of the capital, from Oct. 20 through Nov. 7.

The conference, held every four years, comprises the ITU's 193 member states, and decides on the strategic direction of the organization and elects new leaders.

During the event, South Korea will suggest various agenda items, such as the convergence of ICT with other industries, and establishing grounds for the Internet of Things, a trend toward connecting various everyday objects via the Internet.

"The 2014 ITU meeting is important in establishing plans for a shared growth among countries for the long term," said Lee Sang-hak, an official from the event's organizing committee.

"As South Korea will only have one chance to hold the meeting per century, we will thoroughly prepare for the event to make it the best in its 150-year history and lend hands to the country's ICT industry," Lee added.

The Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning plans to arrange exhibitions and conferences related to communications technologies to add to the conference, often referred to as the "Olympics of ICT."

In the first week of the event, the ICT ministry will hold the "World IT Show," which will feature a broad range of IT products, in an effort to hold its own against popular events such as the U.S. Consumer Electronics Show and the World Mobile Congress.

Alongside the event, the members of GSMA, the global association of mobile operators, will host the "Mobile 360" and address topics such as mobile commerce and the near field communication technology.

At the "5G Global Summit," telecom experts from around the globe will engage in discussions and forge deeper ties in the future development of the so-called fifth-generation network.

In the second week of the event, scholars and CEOs of the IT sector will share lectures at the two-day "Global ICT Premier Forum," while exhibitions focused in the convergence between IT and healthcare as well as cloud computing will also be held.

Visitors can enjoy concerts and lectures with the participation of 300 local schools in the third week.

The telecom ministry said the conference is expected to generate an economic ripple effect of some 712 billion won (US$673.8 million) as about 3,000 participants and 300,000 tourists are expected to visit the country.

colin@yna.co.kr

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Source Text

Source: Yonhap News (April. 2, 2014)