Koreans Spend 8 Hours Per Day Online

By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

The average South Korean spends more than half of his or her active hours logged on to the Internet or using mobile digital devices, a report said Thursday.

In a survey of 516 adults, the state-run Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI) found that Koreans spend an average of eight hours and 20 minutes per day online, either through computers or portable data devices such as mobile phones and laptops.

Considering that they needed about seven hours and 40 minutes to sleep and eat, it could be said that Koreans are wired for more than half of their 16-plus hours awake.

When adding the time spent on television, radio and fixed-line telephones, the average Korean spends about 12 hours and 45 minutes using digital media services daily.

In comparison, Koreans spend less than 20 percent of their active hours on offline activities and just a tick above 5 percent in reading newspapers or magazines, it said.

``The changes in the media environment, including the diversity of mediums following technological advancement, has been changing the patterns of media consumption,'' said a KISDI official.

`` These changes should be better reflected in media policies, which should have their paradigm shifted and focused around users. We also need a division of power in our regulatory framework in governing the different types of media.''

Desktop computers remain the center of the online experience, as Koreans spend more than 42 percent of their active hours using them, and 14.6 percent of their active hours watching television, including digital multimedia broadcasting (DMB) provided on handsets.

Time spent on mobile phones and laptop computers accounted for about 10.4 percent of the waking hours, while time spent on using fixed-line phones and listening to radio combined for less than 10 percent.

Korea has one of the world's most advanced information and communication environments, with a household Internet penetration rate of more than 80 percent and advanced media services such as DMB mobile television, Internet protocol television (IPTV) and WiBro wireless Internet services, a local variant of mobile WiMAX.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr

No Smoking Zones Expanded

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

Smokers in Seoul will have fewer places to smoke, as the city is moving to designate parks and all other public places as nonsmoking areas.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that it plans to assign outdoor public places including plazas, streets and schools, as nonsmoking areas and will issue related regulations soon.

The ordinance, aimed at protecting nonsmokers from unwanted cigarette smoke, will not be legally binding nor will fines be imposed on smokers who violate it.

It will be a recommendation that provides the basis for provincial governments to take various steps to curb smoking in public places.

``The measure is to prevent inhalation of second hand smoke and appreciate the health rights of nonsmokers,'' Cho Eun-hee, the assistant mayor of Women & Family Policy Affairs said. ``Since there are insufficient legal restrictions on smoking, citizens' participation and responses are the most important factors for the success of the policies,'' the official said.

According to a survey by the municipal government, 97 percent of participants said they are willing to refrain from smoking when there is a nonsmoking sign and it leads to not having a smoke in front of other people.

The city will designate major plazas such as Seoul Plaza, Gwanghwamun Square and Cheonggye Plaza and 16 major streets in Seoul as nonsmoking areas with no smoking sign-marked footpaths.

Restaurants in Seoul will be asked to set up separate smoking and nonsmoking areas. Under current law, only restaurants larger than 150 square meters are obligated to part the sections. The metropolitan government will give incentives to small eateries that separate smoking and nonsmoking areas.

Seoul will reduce the side effects of second hand smoke on teenagers by designating areas around elementary, middle and high schools as nonsmoking zones.

Registration for nonsmoking apartment complexes will be expanded as well, particularly for apartments built by Seoul Housing Corporation. Meanwhile, community areas such as hallways, staircases, playgrounds and parking lots are going to be smoke free.

Taxis must post no smoking signs and prohibit smoking, and the city will remove trash bins from bus stops to discourage smokers.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr

73 Percent of Foreigners Think Seoul Is Expensive

By Kwon Mee-yoo
Staff Reporter

A growing number of foreigners believe overall prices in Seoul are expensive. A Seoul Metropolitan Government survey showed that 73 percent of foreigners living in Seoul think prices are high, a sharp gain from 47 percent the previous year.

By category, 66 percent said housing costs were expensive, according to the survey of 1,000 expatriates last October.

As of the end of 2008, 255,207 non-Koreans are living in Seoul, compared with 258,896 three months earlier. Ninety percent of foreigners are from Asia, with Chinese accounting for 76 percent.

They replied they spend an average 28 percent of their income for the education of their children here. Forty-five percent of foreigners living with their children thought living in Seoul was good for their education, a 10 percent increase from the previous year.

Overall satisfaction with living conditions has risen. The residential and cultural environment, and safety earned high satisfaction levels. But the economic environment, foreign language signs at facilities and the level of foreign language use in administrative services were low.

The most source of information gathering for non-Koreans was the Internet, with 42.6 percent. About 27 percent said it was difficult to obtain information because of the language barrier and information inaccuracy.

meeyoo@koreatimes.co.kr

South Korea's low birthrate