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Distinguished guests, 

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I would like to welcome all of you to the 12th Future ICT Forum co-hosted by the Financial News 

and the Ministry of Science and ICT.  

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I would like to express my gratitude to Minister Lim, Hye Sook of Science and ICT, 

Chairman Lee, Won Wook of Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, 

and Secretary General Choi, Seong Ho of Korea Communications Commission for gracing 

today’s event with your participation.

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Ladies and gentlemen,

Numerous changes that were unimaginable in the past are coming at us at once. 

The COVID-19 outbreak last year forced us to make a transition into the “untact world,” 

making contact-less, non-face-to-face life a new everyday norm. But like the saying 

“Crisis is another word for opportunity,” we are now in the process of overcoming the virus. 

With its COVID-related measures, Korea is surprising the world. Though Korea started its vaccination program later than some countries, the inoculation rate of the country is surging, 

outpacing that of any other country in the world. This fascinating result was made possible by 

the IT infrastructure.

The two largest internet-based companies like Naver and Kakao launched reservation services for

leftover doses from “no-shows,” minimizing the waste of vaccine doses and improving efficiency in 

the nation’s vaccination effort. Already, these companies have been providing COVID-related services 

without charge, taking the lead in the fight against the virus. Some of the services they offer include 

posting the mask inventory in the drug stores nearby and providing QR codes for digital entry logs.
 
As such, Korea is wisely overcoming the unprecedented calamity on the global economy with ICT. 

As shown in the video, Korean companies—Kakao, SK Telecom, LG Electronics, MESH KOREA 

and more—are acting as facilitators to information technology that is central to the untact industry, 

and the world is keeping their eyes on us. Against this backdrop, this year’s theme, 

“Finding Its Own Path” is all the more resonating.

Today’s forum will cover cases and experiences of K-STAR, or Korean STAR companies paving 

the road not taken, pioneering in the global market. The letter K- which stands for Korean is rising 

as the new buzzword nowadays, so we have put the letter K before the keyword of this forum, STAR. 

The acronym STAR means the following: S stands for social networking services, T stands for 

telecommunication, A stands for artificial intelligence, and R stands for revolution.

If you are curious of what the future may look like for the K-STAR companies and what influence 

they have been exerting on us, I recommend you stay until the very end of the 12th Future ICT Forum.

Finally, I would like to thank the experts who have taken time out of busy schedules to give a keynote 

speech, plenary speeches, and speeches on different topics. 

I truly hope that today’s event will be the venue to get an outlook on the untact technology 

and the tech industry.

Thank you very much. 

Jae-Ho Jeon

Chairman & CEO,

The Financial News