In a welcoming address, President Lee Myung-bak stressed that the Internet should be a place for trust. "The spread of false and incorrect information through spam e-mails abusing anonymity is threatening people's rational thinking and trust," he said. "The most urgent policy challenge for the Internet industry is to secure trust in transactions that are essential for the Internet economy to continue growing."

The president warned that the power of the Internet can be a poison rather than a cure unless confidence is secured. "We are now experiencing how beneficial or harmful the Internet can be depending on whether it works positively or negatively," he said. This remark is seen as blaming groundless rumors circulating online for worsening the recent beef scandal by agitating the public, although the biggest reason for the furor is the government's failure to actively deal with the issue.

OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria highlighted the significance of the Internet economy by pointing out that the Internet accounts for 20 percent of the overall GDP growth in the OECD. Kevin Martin, chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), noted that efforts in the U.S. to spread high-speed Internet have made it possible to provide distance education services to some 100 public schools and distance medical services to about 6,000 clinics and hospitals.

Paul Twomey, CEO and president of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), said that from early next year it will be possible to use Korean characters for top level domains. Currently, top level domains appear only in English, such as ".com", ".net", and ".info". The ICANN head also said that his organization plans to encourage the transition from the current Internet protocol of IPv4 to IPv6, which can allow trillions of Internet addresses.

SK Group chairman Chey Tae-won forecast that the convergence of wired and wireless Internet will be the driving force of the Internet economy, with mobile technology enabling "Internet in the palm" leading to more growth.

(englishnews@chosun.com )