iPhone App is a Step Toward Korea's Smart Grid

I've commented in earlier posts on Korea's smart-grid pilot project in Jeju.  Now, in an interesting related development, the Korea Power Exchange has released an app for the iPhone.  Reportedly, this makes Korea the first country in the world (certainly it is one of the first) to put real-time data on electric power supply and consumption on the mobile internet.  The English application is quite well done and very informative.  I assume the Korean side of the service is, if anything, even more informative.   In addition to tracking current electricity supply and demand levels, the service has historical data, future projections, information on electricity pricing and more.  It has a very nice explanation of the future changes coming to the market for electric power here and around the world with the advent of the smart-grid era.

The Impact of Information in North Korea: More Middle Class Defectors?

An article in the Chosun Ilbo today reports on speculation that more middle class people are beginning to defect from North Korea, following the utter failure of that nation's currency reform last year.  While the article does not present numbers or hard evidence, it would be surprising if this new trend is not the case.   In addition to the currency reform, the article notes that  the spread of South Korean pop culture through videos and CDs clandestinely circulated in the North has also encouraged some middle and higher-class North Koreans to flee.

The article simply underscores the critical role of communication and information in solving the overarching political problem in Korea:  national division.   This has been the subject of numerous earlier posts.  The following are some main considerations.

• The continued growth of  telecommunications infrastructure disparity between South and North Korea--the world's largest and most poignant "digital divide."


•  The current rapid expansion of mobile broadband (a.k.a. "smart phones" --Apple, Android and others) and other digital technology is making it more difficult for the North Korean government to keep information out.  It comes in via mobile phone, MP3 players, DVD and so forth.


• North Korea ultimately faces the same dilemma as China, with its "Great Firewall," ---either accept the internet and see your economy participate in global growth, or reject it and stagnate economically.


• Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in 1948 stated that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers."    This was re-affirmed in the present century by the World Summit on the Information Society.   North Korean citizens are being denied this right.

The Hiatus: An Explanation for the lack of posts recently

I just realized that the interval during which I have not posted a single entry on this blog is the longest since I started it almost three years ago.   Here's why.  As most of you know, I have a full-time day job with the Fulbright Commission and that is quite busy during this 60th anniversary year of the Fulbright Commission in Korea.  However, there is another reason, relating to the origins of this blog.



I've been working on a new book, to be published early next year by Routledge.   It is titled Digital Development in Korea:  Building an Information Society  and is co-authored with an individual who, more than any other single person, is credited with energizing South Korea's ICT sector back in the 1980s, leading to the "Telecommunications Revolution" here in that decade.  Routledge is already publicizing its availability.



When I started this blog, it was initially with the thought of using it as a sort of "electronic scrapbook" in connection with writing a new book.  At that time, I didn't know that Dr. Oh and I would eventually choose to co-author a book, and I was uncertain about the role of this blog.  However, I've met quite a number of interesting people through this medium, and so it has served its purpose beyond my expectations.



I'll have more to say about the the book as it gets closer to publication.