Korea's First Half IT Exports Set a New Record

The Joongang Ilbo reports today that Korea's IT exports are at record-setting levels.  The graphic accompanying this post shows the recent pattern (click to see a full-size version).  Not surprisingly, semiconductors and flat panel displays are leading the export surge.   Exports of mobile handsets, a traditional Korean export strength during the feature-phone era, dropped 20.8 percent during the first six months of this year, due to a decline in export unit prices and a delay in smartphone production by Korean firms.

The regional pattern is also interesting.  Korea exported the most IT products to China, selling $33.1 billion worth of items in the country, followed by the European Union with $8.99 billion, and the United States at $8.49 billion.

Korean Cultural Treasures Now Being Shown on YouTube

I was very happy to learn via a short article in the Chosun Ilbo, that Korea is beginning to share videos of its cultural treasures on a YouTube Channel.   This is one small example, but a very good one, of how South Korea can go about improving its national image.  I could imagine the Korean heritage channel on YouTube being supplemented by channels dealing with many other interesting topics about Korea.  Meanwhile, this cultural heritage YouTube channel is a very good start.

The Changing Shape of Research and Development in Korea

Korea's transformation since the early 1980's has been an information-based revolution.  When I say "information-based," I include education, research and development and technology development, all of which are related.  One of the broad trends in Korea over the past three decades has been the growth of private-sector R&D in relation to government-sponsored R&D.  The English web site of the Korea Industrial Technology Association contains some data to back this up.  As shown in the accompanying graphic (click to see a full size version of it) the number of corporate R&D Centers in Korea more than doubled over the past nine years, from 7,110 in 2000 to 17,522 in 2009.  As shown in the data below the bar graph, the vast majority of these research and development centers were created by small and medium sized enterprises.   According to the same web site, nearly half of all of these R&D Centers were situated in the "electronics and electrics"  sector.  The distribution of R&D fields can be seen in the second graphic (again, click to see a full size version).