2010 so eventful as to defy simple summary
By Kim Tong-hyung
The warlike provocations by North Korea, the brilliance of athletes like Park Ji-sung and Kim Yu-na, and the immensely popular television talent competition, ``Superstar K2,’’ were among the most frequently-
searched topics on South Korean websites this year.
Other top trending topics included television shows such as ``Baker King, Kim Tak-goo,’’ the continuing success of girl groups like ``Girls’ Generation,’’ gadgets such as smartphones and the Apple iPad, and the social media epidemic that is Twitter (www.twitter.com), according to Internet companies here.
It’s that time when websites release their most-searched terms of the year, which obviously means January through November, to recap the stories and trends that shaped the country over the previous months.
And, as always, the lists all look different, reflecting the ways the websites gather their data. Naver (www.naver.com) is by far the country’s most popular website and is where most Koreans get their daily dose of entertainment stories, celebrity gossip, pictures and online videos. However, Naver happens to trail Daum (www.daum.net) as a destination for aggregated news content and citizen journalism.
As a result, the list of Naver’s most popular search terms is top-heavy with television shows, while news-related keywords summarize many of Daum’s search trends for 2010.
Apparently Google, the omnipresent global search engine, functions merely as a gateway for Korean users to connect to homegrown sites like Naver and Daum. The most-searched term on Google’s Korean site this year was, well, Naver.
January:
The massive earthquake that rattled Haiti on Jan. 12 ― leaving around 230,000 dead, 300,000 injured and about a million others homeless ― garnered the rapt attention of Daum readers entering 2010.
National broadcaster KBS was also generating an Internet buzz for its popular television shows ``The God of Study’’ and ``Chuno,’’ according to Naver’s data.
February:
Kim Yu-na, the figure skating starlet and arguably the country’s most transcendent personality, led a group of Korean winter sports athletes that captivated the nation during the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Kim beat her rival, Asada Mao of Japan, to give Korea its first-ever gold medal in figure skating, while golds by Mo Tae-bum and Lee Sang-hwa reintroduced the country as a speed skating power. ``Vancouver Winter Olympics’’ was the top search term for Daum for the month, while ``Kim Yu-na’’ headed Naver’s list.
March:
North Korea’s attack on South Korean warship, Cheonan, near the disputed western maritime border led to the deaths of 46 sailors and represented the rogue nation’s most serious provocation since the 1987 bombing of a Korean Air flight that killed all 115 on board. The sinking of Cheonan proved to be the first of a series of warlike provocations by the North this year, the most recent one being its shelling of South Korea’s border island of Yeongpyeong, providing a chilling reminder that the two Koreas remain technically at war. The Cheonan was Daum’s top search word for March. This was also the month Naver generated massive traffic related to the suicide of actor Choi Jin-young, who took his own life just a year after his sister, actress Choi Jin-sil, shocked the nation by killing herself.
April:
The release of Apple’s much-anticipated tablet computer, the iPad, was the talk of Internet users in April, according to Daum’s analysis of its search trends. Tablets, which refer to the slate-like touch-screen computers built for use on the move, is expected to extend the country’s love affair with mobile Internet devices triggered by smartphones like Apple’s iPhone and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S.
May:
The marriage between actor Jang Dong-gun and actress Ko So-young gave the country its own version of a ``Brangelina’’ couple. The marriage generated a significant part of the search traffic for Daum in May, while North Korea-related keywords continue to trend upward for Naver users.
June:
The South Korean football squad, led by Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung, pulled off a convincing victory against Greece in their World Cup opener in South Africa and did well enough in the group stage to progress to the knock-out rounds. However, a defeat to Uruguay prevented the South Koreans from advancing to the last-eight. The World Cup matches kept Daum users up during the summer nights, while the suicide of yet another actor, Park Yong-ha, drove a significant part of Naver’s traffic for the month.
July:
Koreans were still clamoring for more football in July, evidenced by the level of interest generated by the women’s Under-20 team as they finished an impressive third in their World Cup tournament.
August:
The public outrage following the explosion of a Seoul City bus, which injured 17 people, including a 27-year-old woman, drove much of Daum’s traffic in July. The vehicle, like many other Seoul buses, was running on compressed natural gas, and this led authorities to scramble to strengthen safety inspections on public transport. The SBS television show, ``My Girlfriend is a Gumiho,’’ tied for the most-searched term on Naver during the month.
September:
Entertainer Shin Jung-hwan continued to be troubled by gambling problems as there were reports about him being sighted at casinos in the Philippines and Macao. Shin, who had been arrested in the past for gambling at an illegally-operated casino in Seoul, has yet to return to the country. Daum users paid particular interest to Shin’s plight during the month, as well as to musical director Park Colleen, who saw her popularity rise significantly for her guest appearance on the popular KBS show, ``Qualifications of a Man.’’
October:
Superstar K2, an American Idol-like television singing competition, marked itself as the country’s most-watched cable television show ever on Oct. 22, when Heo Gak dramatically edged John Park in the contest’s much-anticipated final. Superstar K2-related search terms accounted for a significant part of both Naver and Daum’s search traffic for the month. Daum users also showed interest in Tablo and his increasingly bizarre fight against a group of bloggers who accused the singer of faking his education credentials, which include a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Stanford University.
November:
Search terms related to the Seoul Group of 20 (G20) meetings were the biggest driving force of Daum’s traffic, but that was before North Korea decided to shell the South Korean border island of Yeonpyeong just days after the international meetings. The Yeonpyeong attack killed four, including two civilians, and left scores of houses destroyed.
올해 인터넷을 달군 검색어는?
북한의 군사적 도발, 박지성, 김연아 등 스포츠스타의 활약, 그리고 폭발적인 인기를 누리고 있는 가수 오디션 프로그램 슈퍼스타 K2 등이 2010년 인터넷을 달군 이슈로 꼽혔다.
이 밖에도 ``제빵왕 김탁구’’ 등의 인기 TV드라마와 소녀시대 등 성공가도를 달리는 인기 걸그룹, 애플 아이패드와 같은 최신 IT기기들, 그리고 트위터를 비롯한 소셜 미디어 서비스도 한국 웹사이트 네이버와 다음 등이 취합한 인기 검색어 순위에 이름을 올렸다.