Domestic Internet users to exceed 20 million by March

The domestic Internet population stood at 19.04 million as of the end of last year and is expected to exceed 20 million by this March.

According to the Ministry of Information and Communication and the Korea Network Information Center (KNIC), 19.04 million or 40.3 percent of the nation's total population were found to be using the Internet on or off line as of the end of December last year.

The figure marks a whopping 75 percent increase, or 8.18 million people, from 10.86 million reported at the end of 1999.

Ministry and KNIC officials said the results came from a survey of 10,186 people from 3,452 households across the country. Only those older than seven who use the Internet more than once a month were considered to be part of the Internet population, they said.

According to the survey, the number of people using the Internet more than once a week increased from 89.9 percent last August to 95.1 percent last December, indicating that people are using the Internet more frequently.

By age, those in their 20s accounted for 74.6 percent of all users, while 74.1 percent were between the ages of one and seven. By gender, men accounted for 50.9 percent of all users (10.83 million people) against 38.6 percent (8.21 million) for women. By region, more than 50 percent of the residents in Seoul, Ulsan and Kyonggi Province were found to be Internet users, followed by those in South Cholla Province with 36.5 percent and those in North Kyongsang Province with 31.4 percent.

A total of 49.5 percent of respondents said they use the Internet for five to 15 hours a week while 22.2 percent said that they use it for even longer. As for where they logged on, 59.2 percent said their home, 18.6 percent companies and 15.8 percent PC rooms.

Asked about problems with Internet services, 52.7 percent complained about the slow speed and 9.2 percent about difficulties in searching for information. Some 6.5 percent said that they felt burdened with the expense.

Choi Young-Hae freewill@donga.com