Geographic Patterns of International Telecommunications in Korea, 1960-1996

The present study examined the geographic patterns of international telecommunications for the period of 1960-1996, and their relations with other kinds of international movements, namely the flows of commodity and people between Korea and the rest of the world. The time-series cross-correlation analysis revealed that the growth in international telecommunications recently became correspondent with the growth of GNP, trade and travel with one to two year lead. An examination on the call-destinations for the period of 1960 through 1995 revealed that Korean international telecommunications are a combination of the Japan and USA components, the neighborhood form, and the world economic form. The Japan and USA components have dominated international telecommunications for long, while the neighborhood form is gaining its importance substantially in recent years. The spatial interaction model was employed to identify the extent of the Korean telephone forelands, which include largely Asia-Pacific, Europe and America as of 1996. The residual analysis also found that the pro-Western atmosphere governing Korea since the Korean War appears to have a major influence on the geography of international information interactions. The analyses repeatedly indicated that the 1980s was the period of a major transformation of Korean telecommunications.Huh Woo-Kung. Geographic Patterns of International Telecommunications in Korea, 1960-1996 . In: NETCOM : Réseaux, communication et territoires / Networks and Communication Studies, vol. 11 n°2, décembre 1997. Miscellaneous papers (II). From the IGU Meeting, Palma (Spain), 26-29 May 1997. pp. 325-342