Korea To Adopt New Domain Registration System

Korea will introduce a new registration system for domain names at the end of this month, enabling companies and organizations to establish personal domain names and plural accounts.

The National Computerization Agency (NCA) announced that the existing registration system, which limits just a single domain name forcompanies or
organizations, will be revised to allow registration of plural domain name and
personal domain ‘pe.kr’ starting on June 30.

The move is expected to drastically increase the overall demand for registration of individual domain names and Web-hosting services in Korea.

NCA plans to collect annual charges for the use of domain names like in
many other countries. The charges will be between 20,000 won (US$17) and
30,000 won (US$25) for personal and corporate domain-name owners, respectively.

With the relaxation of restrictions on domain name registration,
industry observers expect that there will be a rush of new registration, particularly from parties who already have one domain name.

Undoubtedly, it would be a good news for local Web hosting service providers, who are expected to see their business booming substantially.

“Previously, we received monthly average of 200-300 telephone inquiries about registration for domain names. Now, we are receiving more than 100 phone inquiries weekly for the same question. We expect that new registration of domain names will increase steadily,” said an official of GabiaNet Inc., one of the nation’s domain name registration service firms.

“Corporations are now well aware of the importance of the Internet and domain names, especially for their marketing and public relations activities,” he said. “So they are struggling to preoccupy simple and easy-to-remember domain names. This is one of the major reasons why the registration of domain name will increase rapidly.”

According to statistics from the Korea Network Information Center
(KRNIC), the
number of “.kr” domains nearly doubled from 26,166 last December to
46,626 in
May this year.

Analysts believe that the introduction of personal domain registration
would
help SOHO businesses and freelancers because they could offer their
business
information more easily to clients through their own Internet domain and
Web sites.

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