Korea Simplifies Web Domain Suffixes

Starting September, Internet domain names with “co.”; “or.”; or “go.” and others will no longer have to be typed in. The suffix “.kr” will cover them all.

For example, visitors to the Cheong Wa Dae website will only need to type in “www.president.kr” instead of “www.president.go.kr.”

The National Internet Development Agency of Korea (KIDA) announced on March 15 that the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) is expected to adopt the second-level kr domains in September as it has recently approved “the amendment of bylaws for domain names.” In the second-level kr domains, the previous third-level ones such as “.co.kr” and “.or.kr” omit the “co.” or “or.” portion. The KIDA expects that because there is no distinction between co, or, and re for different registrars, it will be more feasible for business marketing usage.

The KIDA decided to set “the early registration period” to reduce disputes on ownership possibly resulting from the adoption of the second-level kr domains and to stably manage the systems. Government agencies and previous domain registrars with “kr” will have the opportunity to register first.

During the early period, when same domain names are registered simultaneously, those with trademarks will receive the name first. If there is nobody with trademarks, those who registered for the third-level kr domains the earliest will have the right to it first.

Sun-Mi Kim kimsunmi@donga.com