visitors to www.ciolek.com since 08 May 1997.
ASIA'S "INFO-TIGERS" and "INFO-FALCONS":
IS SOUTH KOREA LOOSING ITS PLACE IN THE CYBERSPACE?
by
T. Matthew Ciolek
Head, Internet Publications Bureau
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200, Australia
tmciolek@coombs.anu.edu.au
http://www.ciolek.com/PEOPLE/ciolek-tm.html
A Special Adviser to KASTN
Statistics collected by the Internet domain survey conducted
twice-yearly by the Internet Software Consortium (www.isc.org/ds/)
suggest that not all countries of Asia are doing well in the
cyberspace. The number of networked host machines residing in the
ten most heavily networked countries (JP, TW, KR, HK, SG, CN, MY,
TH, ID, PH) has grown from 90% of the Asia's total in January
1995 to 94% in January 2001.
=============================================================
Jan-95 %Asia Jan-98 %Asia Jan-01 %Asia
-------------------------------------------------------------
All 49 countries
of Asia 167,934 100% 1,778,847 100% 7,196,844 100%
Top Ten 151,402 90% 1,668,831 94% 6,787,429 94%
=============================================================
Of the top ten, the top 5 (JP, TW, KR, HK and SG) command
91% of the total number of networked hosts in Asia, with
Japan leading with 64%, followed by Taiwan with 15%.
Taiwan has surged ahead of Korea who dropped to No.3.
=============================================================
Country Jan-95 %Asia Jan-98 %Asia Jan-01 %Asia
-------------------------------------------------------------
Japan 96,632 58% 1,168,956 66% 4,640,863 64%
Taiwan 4,618 3% 176,836 10% 1,095,718 15%
S. Korea 18,049 11% 121,932 7% 397,809 6%
Hong Kong 12,437 7% 66,617 4% 228,979 3%
Singapore 5,252 3% 57,605 3% 175,799 2%
=============================================================
The next 5 (CN, MY, TH, ID, PH) trail the top 5 far behind.
The first 5 may be called the "Info-tigers" whereas the second
5 the "Info-Falcons" which account for a meager 3 % of Asia's
total.
=========================================================
Country Jan-95 %Asia Jan-98 %Asia Jan-01 %Asia
---------------------------------------------------------
China 569 0% 16,322 1% 70,391 1%
Malaysia 1,606 1% 32,269 2% 68,248 1%
Thailand 1,728 1% 14,378 1% 63,447 1%
Indonesia 177 0% 9,603 1% 26,727 0%
Philippines 334 0% 4,313 0% 19,448 0%
=========================================================
All tables above are from "Electronic Environments of Eastern
Asia." [a work in progress]. T. Matthew Ciolek, 2001.
This means that the big league of info-Tigers (major Eastern
Asian players) and info-Falcons (minor Eastern Asian players)
is getting ever bigger. This also means that those countries
which have been lagging behind in terms of the size of their
electronic infrastructure have now an even larger gap to cope
with in the decades to come.
Of the top 5, two countries are falling behind, Hong Kong and
South Korea. In Hong Kong the absolute numbers of the networked
hosts have risen from an energetic 12,437 in January 1995 to an
impressive 228,979 in January 2001. However, the overall
participation in the Asia's networked world has dropped by four
points from 7% in 1995 to a mere 3% in 2001. A similar reversal
of fortune can be seen in the case of South Korea. There the
drop is at a level of five points, from 11% in 1995 to a
disappointing 6% in 2001.
In a global world which increasingly often seeks-out and favors
information- and services-based economies, this downward trend
does not bode too well for the South Korea's future, whether
electronic or brick-and-mortar one.