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  SECOND PHASE OF THE WSIS, 16-18 NOVEMBER 2005, TUNIS
 
 Statement from Republic of Korea

 

STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. JUN-HYONG RHO,

Vice Minister of Information and Communication

Republic of Korea

Honorable UN Secretary General Kofi Annan,

Honorable ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi,

Your Excellency President

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of the Republic of Tunisia,

Distinguished Delegates!

It is my great honor to represent the government of the Republic of Korea in the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). It is my firm conviction that the Tunis Commitment and Agenda for Action set out feasible tools for the implementation of the vision and direction offered in the Geneva Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action.

The Korean government sincerely hopes that this Summit will prove to be a turning point for the formulation of schemes for national, regional and international cooperation with the aim of maximizing the advantages of ICT.

Distinguished Delegates!

The Korean government is eager to underline that the Information Society should be people-centered and development-oriented. To this end, it is necessary to ensure equitable and affordable access to information for people everywhere.

Creating a healthy information culture and striving to secure the safety of the information and communication network are also vital elements.

Moreover, bridging the international digital divide through the smooth implementation of the Agenda for Action as planned is a crucial task. This cannot be accomplished through the efforts of any single country alone. The Korean government will do its utmost, making vigorous efforts to ensure that these objectives can be achieved for the desired information society.

In particular, Korea has promoted accessibility to information through IT learning programs, the provision of IT technology, the dispatch of policy advisors and Internet Youth Volunteers, and the establishment of information access centers in developing countries.

For the effective and efficient implementation of the information society, the Korean Government has promoted the ‘Digital Bridges Initiative’ Project in cooperation with the ITU. This project aims at the development of the Digital Opportunity Index.

The Digital Opportunity Index will be a useful means to step up our efforts to bridge the digital divide, marking one important step further along our journey towards the information society we want.

Distinguished Delegates!

In relation to Internet Governance, the Korean government believes that it should be multilateral, transparent and democratic through the full involvement of governments, the private sector, civil society and inter-governmental organizations. Internet Governance should ensure an equitable resource distribution, facilitating access with the stability and security of the Internet.

Regarding public policy issues relating to Internet Governance, the Korean Government agrees that international cooperation among all stakeholders should be enhanced, specifically for public policy issues such as spam, consumer protection and cybercrime.

Distinguished Delegates!

I would like to take this opportunity, as the representative of the host of this years APEC Economic Leaders Meeting, to offer a brief overview of the contribution by APEC to the WSIS. APEC has been taking part in the UN efforts toward the realization of the Global Information Society (GIS) through the hard work carried out to achieve the Asia Pacific Information Society (APIS). In particular, APEC has been promoting activities for informatization and bridging the digital divide.

It is my earnest hope that APEC’s contributions to the WSIS, including APEC’s input to the WSIS Stocktaking activities, will indeed prove useful in implementing the committed objectives of the WSIS.

I would also like to add that APEC hopes to play its part in realizing the global information society through its participation in the efforts of the WSIS.

Distinguished Delegates!

My special thanks go to those who worked so hard to make this meaningful event possible.

In closing, may I say that I have every confidence that this Summit will mark a new starting point for the realization of the information society we envision.

Thank you for your attention!

 

 

 

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