Korean Tech on Display at Doha Games

Sports can be described as matches that create records.

Every single record, including the final results of the 2006 Doha Asian Games, will be entered into a main database and delivered through the intranet wherever necessary. A Korean company will operate this auto-recording process for the Doha Asian Games.

On November 28, a soccer match took place between a Korean team and a Bangladeshi team. As Lee Cheon-soo, a Korean national soccer player, successfully drove his first goal into the net, replays of his kick were shown on as many as one hundred wall television sets in the main media center. These TVs were all made in Korea.

Korean companies are dominant in the field of information technology and home appliances for the upcoming Doha Asian Games. Ssangyong Information and Communications Corp. (SICC) is providing the computing system, and Samsung Electronics is providing a variety of home appliances such as movie and sound equipment for the Asian sports festival.

The SICC won a contract worth $55 million (approximately 52.2 billion won) and will offer the entire electronic system for this event. Samsung has supplied more than 8,000 electronic products including TV sets, DVD players, mobile phones and refrigerators. “As Korean companies prepare for the Doha Asian Games, the Qatari people have gotten a more positive impression of Korea,” said SICC executive Oh Chang-bae.

why@donga.com