Korean Web addresses set to go all hangeul

By Kim Tong-hyung

Staff reporter

Korean Internet users will be able to use Web addresses written in Hangeul, the native Korean alphabet, starting next year, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said.

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the Internet regulator, finalized its plans to introduce Web addresses using non-Latin characters in November last year, allowing domain names written in Asian, Arabic or other scripts. Korea is one of the 21 countries in the world who have applied for domain names written in native script, KCC officials said.

The KCC is expecting to complete a domain name system (DNS) by the end of the year, with the Hangeul Web addresses slated for debut in early 2011. This will also allow Hangeul e-mail addresses as well.

``The Hangeul Web addresses will improve the convenience of Korean Internet users who are less familiar with English, which will lead to improved Web accessibility,'' said Hong Jin-bae, an official from the KCC's network policy division, who expects competition from companies and other organizations to obtain better Hangeul domain names.

``The Korean Web addresses will also help domestic companies in marketing. Instead of spelling out their names in English for their Web addresses, Korean companies could just use their more familiar Korean spellings or even use the names of the products or services they want to promote, and this will make it easier for Korean users to locate the sites.''

Since their inception, Internet domain names have been largely confined to Roman characters used in the English language, but this has been creating a significant access barrier for non-English speakers.