Thanks to an action being taken at the current ICANN conference in Seoul, it will soon be possible to use the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, in web addresses. As reported in the Chosun Ilbo, an ICANN board meeting on Friday is set to approve a multilingual address system. Under such a system, the web address for the Chosun Ilbo might be (조선일보.한국). Another issue that will be addressed at the ICANN conference is the proposal to allow the use of any word after the dot at the end of an adress. This will allow use of nouns and company names. For example, Samsung might choose .Samsung or a wine company .wine.
The use of Hangeul will certainly add a new layer of convenience to internet browsing for Koreans, who will find it easier to quickly recognize web site addresses. One interesting question is whether it will really diminish the need for Koreans to learn English, Chinese and other foreign languages. Most probably not. For Koreans, their companies and their products to really venture out into cyber space, they will need to use the dominant languages of communication in that space.