By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter

After allowing Microsoft a virtual monopoly on Web browsers for years, the Korean government is finally acting on its vow to loosen the company's chokehold.

The Ministry of Public Administration and Security announced plans to reprogram the country's e-government sites to have them work properly on non-Microsoft browsers like Chrome, Firefox and Opera.

Critics had accused the government of solidifying the country's Microsoft monoculture in computer operating systems and Web browsers by having all encrypted transactions on the Internet done through Microsoft's ``Active-X'' controls.

As a result, Koreans using browsers other than Internet Explorer are blocked from banking or purchasing products online and can't even interact with e-government sites.

``The Internet services now provided by Korean administrative organizations aren't based on open Web standards and work only on Microsoft's operating system and browser, but we are now focused on allowing computer makers and consumers select the browser of their choice,'' said Lim Jin-young, an official from the ministry's information resources policy division.

``The project is also focused on having the Web services available on Linux, Macintosh and other alternative operating systems and improving accessibility for the disabled,'' he said.

According to the plans, about 500 Web sites operated by central government organizations and regional governments will be redesigned to work on standards-compliant browsers, which only used codes ratified by the World Wide Web consortium, thus allowing non-Microsoft browsers to function on them.

However, the ministry failed to say when it expects the process to be completed.

The reliance by Korean Internet sites on Active-X, a program used to install software components on Web pages to enable particular functions, traces back to 1998, when the country announced its own national encryption system, called SEED, a block cipher that is used in place of SSL.

SEED was created because policymakers didn't consider 40-bit SSL stable enough for online transactions, and the U.S. government not allowing the export of Web browsers with more than 40-bit encryption until 1999.

SEED is now only used in Korea, as other countries chose to wait for the 128-bit SSL protocol to be finalized and exported from the U.S. This has limited the competition of Web bowers in Korea, where users are limited to using Active-X components with Internet Explorer for the SEED plug-ins.

Despite the government claiming a commitment to open standards, it's unlikely that Microsoft will face a meaningful challenge to its dominance in browsers soon.

Nearly all of the country's encryption systems, including keyboard security programs, computer vaccines and online transaction programs are reliant on Active-X, and the ministry has no immediate plans to hire a private software maker to develop an alternative technology, citing a shortage in budget.

The Korea Financial Telecommunications and Clearings Institute, the state agency managing electronic payment services, is also indifferent in developing Active-X alternatives.

The Korean reliance on Active-X is becoming increasingly awkward, with Microsoft moving to phase out the tool over compatibility issues and security concerns.

As a result, the Korean government and Internet users become apprehensive whenever Microsoft introduces a new product.

The release of Windows Vista, Microsoft' s latest computer operating system, caused a massive disruption last year when Active-X programs used by online shopping malls and Internet banking sites didn't function properly. It took Microsoft and other companies nearly two months to solve the problem.

There are also concerns surrounding Microsoft's plans to reduce its support for Active-X in IE8, the latest version of Internet Explorer.

thkim@koreatimes.co.kr