BUSAN < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(SEOUL=Yonhap News) More than 190 countries, including North Korea, have been invited to the South Korea-hosted international conference on information and communication technologies to open next month, organizers said Friday, expecting record participation.

South Korea will host the 19th International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference in Busan (PP-14), the country's largest port city, located 453 kilometers southeast of the capital, from Oct. 20 through Nov. 7.

The organizing committee said invitations have been sent out to 193 countries, including North Korea, for the U.N. agency's event.

The committee expects around 3,000 officials from the invited countries and 150 minister-level delegates at the PP-14 during the period, a larger number than at the previous conference held in Mexico four years ago in which officials from 174 countries participated.

While North Korea, an ITU member, was also invited, organizers said it has not yet received a response.

The two Koreas are still technically at war, not having signed a peace treaty at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea has been actively attending recent ITU-related events, including the ITU Telecom World held in Thailand on Nov. 18 last year and the World Telecommunication Development Conference 2014 in the United Arab Emirates in March.

The ITU is an information and communications arm of the U.N. that handles various issues, including setting technological standards, allocating radio frequencies and satellite orbits, and improving qualities of communication services.

The conference is held every four years.

It marks the first time for South Korea to host an ITU conference and the second time for Asia, after Japan hosted the event in 1994.

colin@yna.co.kr

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